New Lust
by Alpha female 01
Summary: After Lust, dead have come up all over & Roy tells Ed to find a state alchemist. Ed meets TJ and Drake with secrets of their own. Where's Thorn? What is going on? EdxOC,EdWin,AlWin I own Thorn, Terry and the 'girls' please don't steal maybe M later
1. New Lust

_**New Lust**_

Four days since that moment, the moment in time at the Third Laboratory, where she had died by his hand.

Homunculi were supposed to be artificial humans; things that were forbidden to be made, a great taboo among all alchemists. Beasts in human form, made with Philosopher's Stones as the source of their power and life. Lust was one of them. She, herself was a homunculus, a successful one no less. Her curly dark hair would bounce with every click of her heel boots, as well as her large breasts. Her dress and gloves used to be a maroon color contrasting with the creamy pale color of her skin. Her cleavage was showing on sleeveless garment. Her lips matched her attire in the perfect shades.

The Colonel thought to himself looking around the hospital room, listening to a bored Havoc. 'Those eyes', a flash of a very short crimson eyed girl came to him for a mere second before coming back to reality. Mustang looked to his coat and reached out for the pocket containing a folded piece of paper, he was about to unfold it when the Lt. Hawkeye walked into the room. "Colonel Mustang", she saluted to her superior straight away, and then looked down at the two men in bed. "I have some news to report."

"Aright let's hear it", he replied still holding the paper in his hand.

"I don't want to worry you but", she paused before speaking again, "for the last few days you've been here there have been ten deaths all related in the way of execution." The superior raised his brow to the Lieutenant gaining his attention, "They all died at night, with a single cut on the bodies, blood in their mouths, and they were all…" The blonde woman looked away with her bangs covering her face as she whispered the last words knowing his reaction. "Showgirls and prostitutes…"

The black haired male's eyes widened before unfolding the paper in his hand, revealing a picture of a child holding her state alchemist watch in her hand with a thumbs-up and a wink. Her hair was short much like Riza's was in the beginning of her military career but it was midnight black. Her skin was a light tan that seemed almost unnoticeable to anyone looked first glance. Her eyes were a crimson color somewhat lighter shade than that of Lust's outfit but still, it remind him so much of her blood red eyes.

"Get me Fullmetal on the phone", he snarled before a knock came from the door. The woman nodded in reply grabbing the phone and connecting it to the train.

Gold eyes stare at the seat in front of him, with boredom clearly painted on his face. Maybe he should've brought Alphonse with him, it would be better to him than thinking to himself. Ed thought to himself as he relaxed still thinking about the life he once knew, his goals had changed lately. Still his main goal had stayed the same without any falter, to get his little brother's body back. His hand touched his automail arm with a regretful frown on his face, 'What if it never happened?'

Ed had been late for the train because of the fact that he had to use the facilities and got a note from Armstrong saying that the next train was coming later. After going to see 2nd Lt. Ross and knowing that she was safe and alive gave him great relief from the weight on his shoulders. The Fullmetal Alchemist looked down at his watch in his pocket checking the time one more time before seeing that it would take another three hours to get to Resembool. He made sound that crossed with a sigh and a groan knowing he would be bored to

"Edward Elric", called out the conductor from the front of the cart, "Fullmetal Alchemist." He stood up raising his white glove in the air, to reveal himself to the conductor. The older man over to him whispering in a rush, "Colonel Mustang is on the line for you, said it was urgent." The alchemist nodded and stood up before venturing to the small phone booth at the front of the cart. Finally someone to talk to for awhile but why Mustang would call him of all people. What could he possibly want from him? Out of all the people he wanted to talk to Col. Roy Mustang was the last person on earth on that list.

"Elric", stated the Fullmetal Alchemist as a greeting to the person at the other end.

"Fullmetal, I need you to…" started Mustang until the short fifteen year old interrupted him before he could continue.

"What the hell? You have me kidnapped from my apartment and forced me to go through a desert when you know I have metal limbs. Yet you have the nerve to call for me and do something for you?" His voice showed obvious rage that the Colonel would hand him an assignment at a time like this. "What could you possibly want?"

"A few days ago, I killed a homunculus named Lust and ever since then there have been deaths centered on prostitutes, showgirls and whores", explained the Flame Alchemist annoyed at the attitude. "They are all leading to a town by your destination, it already passed your town but you need to get to the next one and fast." Images of Greed, Lust and Envy flashed through his mind for a moment while hearing this. How many homunculi were there?

"Anything particular that I need to be looking for", asked Ed looking at his notebook while taking note of the mission.

"A State Alchemist named Thorn M. Jada also known as the Nature Alchemist, she was eleven when she joined and disappeared about two years ago", explained Roy Mustang to his fellow alchemist, "before you came along." There was a hint of sadness in the older man on the other end while he was speaking which Ed didn't call out on it but did made note of. "There will be a letter sent to you about her and a picture of her." She must have meant something to the Flame Alchemist, Ed assumed before listening more carefully to his last set of instructions before hanging up. "Make sure she's brought back to East City and that she's safe."

He would have to deal with another mission while at home, great. This was just what he need, another alchemist to teasing him about his height. Edward sighed at the notion and entered the number for the apartment, he shared with his brother. As he waited for someone to pick up the phone, he thought about what they were doing to these girls before they die or while they were dying. He closed his golden eyes and deepened his frown on one side of his lips while his mind wondered almost missing his childhood friend talking to him.

"Hello", greeted Winry to the person on the other end.

"It's Ed", replied the Alchemist, breaking out of his state of mind. "Can you get Al on the phone? I really need to talk to him right now." He heard metal in the background clashing together like they were moving as one.

"Hello, Brother. You're there already", said Alphonse, who's voice echoed from the armor and into the phone's microphone.

"No Al, I'm not there yet, soon but not yet", he answered with a bored sigh before continuing on with the conversation. "Listen, I'm going to be taking a little longer to get back to East City." Edward knew that his brother was going to ask him why, so the fifteen year old boy saved him the trouble, "The Colonel gave me another mission while I'm at home. Something about a serial killing that might be connected to the homunculi running around." Alphonse seemed to understand the situation and told him as such.

The conversation was soon done and the two Elric siblings hung up their phones, Edward sighed at the fact he had to stay longer than predicted with Granny. 'What a pleasure', he noted sarcastically walking out of the door, heading to his seat until he stumbled over some luggage that was on the floor. Who the hell leaves their stuff out like this? He was about to scold to the owner of the containers, only to find a blanketed figure lying peacefully on the seat of the train. He moved the blanket away from the person's face to reveal a boy in overalls.

His hat was on the floor revealing his black hair tied in a small puffy ponytail that reminded him of a rabbit's tail, probably from sleeping in it. His eyes were closed and covered with sunglasses that were much too dark to see into, they were tilted slightly as he was on his side. The passenger had yellow baggy shirt that fit loosely around his torso and dark blue overalls covered the rest of his body with black shoes at the end. His skin was a moderate tan as those he worked outside for a good amount of time a week.

Edward didn't care if he was being rude by waking up this stranger he just wanted to yell at something. He put his metallic hand on the stranger's bare flesh instantly receiving a shiver from the cold; however, when he shook him he was then given a good fist in the face. The force made him land in the seat across from the resting boy, that guy had a good arm on him. Ed eased his jaw, making sure it wasn't broken or dislocated as he observed the just woken boy. He really hoped this guy wasn't one of those guys who hate being woken up to an extreme.

His hair seems to be in worse shape than before falling out of the band a bit more, his eyes were still closed and his shaded glasses were crooked. He readjusted his shades and grabbed his hat from the floor, setting it right next to him, before noticing the short blond on the other side of the box. "Who the hell are you", asked the recently awakened, his voice was groggy and rough. Ed was still a little dazed at the fact that he punched him that hard, it felt as those Winry hit him with one of her wrenches.

"The guy your luggage tripped", Ed responded lifting up the stranger's duffel bag before he threw it to the other passenger. He heard a chuckle from across the way and he saw a tan hand reach out for him take. His eyes moved to the feature of the young male, seeing that he was much shorter than even him and seemed younger than him as well. The guy could barely even touch the polished ground with the balls of his feet, he seemed to look only about ten years old or younger. Far too young to travel on his own like this, yet he sounded like he was at least fourteen.

"Then I'm the guy who punched you in the face, how do you do", the stranger said sarcastically, waiting for a handshake. "But seriously its Terry Jordan, friends call me TJ for short." Ed looked at the hand and the still half awake TJ on the other side of him before smirking back at his new friend.

"Edward, Edward Elric", the metal limbed boy introduced himself as before taking the tan hand of TJ's for a friendly shake, "The Fullmetal Alchemist." Ed could see the negative emotion that flashed on the worker looking young boy's face but he didn't show any hatred or anger like others he would encounter. The male looked more sad than angry at him for mentioning it, "something wrong with that?" TJ shook his covered head, like he was breaking out of a small trance, as a response to the question, his hidden frown of secrecy turned into a genuine smirk of amusement.

"No, I don't have any problem with it", night haired one explained to the day colored male, "I just never thought they would have people so young in the pack. I always thought that the military would go older than you. How old are you anyway?"

"Sixteen", Ed answered as he watched the stranger fold his blanket before realizing something, "Oh shit, my stuff is in my box, sorry but I have to go to my box." The blonde haired boy stood up to walk away from the conversation he was starting to enjoy. His steps headed out of the box to his own, looking to the shelves over the boxes for his luggage to find that it wasn't there. 'What the hell', he yelled mentally while looking around him for his stuff until he noticed that it was lying on the floor by TJ's box.

When the fifteen year old male ran over, he was met with a smirking work clothed boy, "I'm going to sixteen too, by the way."

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><p>New at anime writing give me some constructive criticism and please no he was in with her or she was with him shit because would you want that done to you. Not only is that rude but it is also annoying as hell.<p> 


	2. Journey Buddies

**Journey Buddies**

It seemed like hours of talking amongst ourselves, it was never ending like there was nothing we couldn't talk about. TJ seemed just as happy to talk to someone as I was. The only thing we didn't discuss was our jobs, of course that was the one subject no one wants to look at. I could really put my finger on it but there was something about this guy that made no sense. For instance, he had no guy friends in his life and only mentioned "the girls" when he mentioned an event with friends. Was this guy anti-social with the same gender or gay? "Excuse me", announced the conductor to get our attention, "we will be arriving at Resemble in five minutes."

I could feel the disappointment in my body come over my sense as I looked at my newly gained friend. I was having such a good time with TJ now, it was going to end. 'Damn it', I thought looking away from the strange guy across from me. Though he didn't know much about alchemy he was able to bring up some people he knew that used the art form. It was the first time in a while that alchemy wasn't the subject of a conversation. He didn't speak for a few moments until TJ spoke to continue to the conversation and fill the silence.

"So you tracking to your real destination from Res or is Res your destination", he asked me with a fake smile that was so obviously placed on his face to hide his disappointment from me. That was thing I had noticed about this guy he never wanted to trouble anyone, just help out, you don't get that from many people nowadays. When he had to stop because the tank was empty on the train TJ wanted to help refill the tank, even though everyone else was groaning about the train stopping.

That is one rare person, "Resembool is my home. I've lived there since I was born before I became a State Alchemist. I was going to come back for a visit." I felt a little bad about lying to this guy but I had to, it came with the job of the military. I looked out the window smiling at the happy memories I had had there but then the bad memories came and the smile turned upside down. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked back to see the reassuring smile, telling me everything was good to be fine. 'Yeah right.' "What about you?"

"Me", he asked me almost surprised, "I live in the next town over from Resembool, it's call Sins' Playground." He said as though it was like talking about the weather. TJ gaped me a little before looking away by turning his from me as if ashamed or something. I raised an eyebrow to the farmer looking guy and asked him why was it called such a morbid name, he answered, "It's a bad place to live but if you've lived there your whole life it's not really that bad." I gave Terry a look that said to further explain, "See the thing is that its split into seven parts that are completely based on one sin. The greed section is all casinos and gambling. The envy section is full of parties so people can show off what they have. The gluttony section has a lot of food market and restaurants, the prices are outrageous though. The sloth section has a bunch of hotel and apartments, again prices are outrageous. The pride section is basically the rich people section, they're all to proud to help out anyone but themselves. The wrath section is a fight every day, gangsters fight there cause there's no more rules than hell there."

"That was six", I pointed out know there were seven sins, "What about lust?" This sounded like a bad town so far, so… WHY WAS THE NATURE ALCHEMIST ANYWHERE NEAR THAT PLACE? There was a thoughtful look on his face probably thinking specific thoughts on the lust section. Finally he sighed as he ruffled his short ponytail and looked at me through his dark sunglasses.

"The lust sections is filled with love hotels, whore houses, live show entertainment, erotic stuff like that. But lately there's been some deaths there and I got worried about the girls so I wanted to make sure they were all okay." I nodded in response knowing that was going to be my answer, "Why would you need to know all this anyway? It's not like you have a mission there." I looked at him with a nervous smile and tense shoulders. A drop of sweat was on my forehead hoping he wasn't looking through me like a glass of water with a diamond on the bottom.

"Yeah right", I answered seeing that we were finally at the train station that was currently occupied with people. We stood up with our luggage in hand and stepped out together, I looked around the platform for these girls Terry had spoken so much but found no single group of girls. "Where are the girls", I asked looking down a little on the short guy but he was distracted by something. I look in the direction his sunglasses were facing and gaped, a young woman in her late decade was getting dragged into an alley by a guy in about his thirties with a blunt weapon and rope. Before I could say anything TJ was running into the alley, 'What the hell?

When we got there the victim was already tied up with the man threatening her to shut up or else, not noticing that we were there. I heard a click next to me and quick, "I got this" from the worker dressed boy before he charged straight into the assumed rapist and I cut the ropes for the girl to escape. The entire time TJ was fighting the large guy I thought for sure was going to overpower him but now the big wuss was begging for forgiveness with a knife at his throat. It was from who he referred to that scared the living crap out of me, "Please Sensei, I didn't mean to go against your laws of business, please don't kill me!"

Terry only sneered at the pathetic act of graveling and said something I never expected him to say, "Do you want to be my bitch now? You think you can get away with shit like this out consequences? Think again!" Just missing the jugular his knife cut his supposed student on the shoulder deep enough to hurt but not enough to get it looked at, the grown man screamed out the pain like a girl. TJ stood up with blood on his hands and a little on his face his glasses broke in the fight revealing ocean blue eyes to me when he looked up at me.

We walked out of the train station together before I spoke to my companion, "What the hell was that back there?" Okay maybe I over exaggerated but still how would you feel if your friend started beating someone else who was three times his size and call him his bitch. The ghetto boy only shrugged and wiped the blood off of the pocket knife and closed it with one swift movement before putting his hands in his pockets. His features seemed so relaxed but something in his eyes told me that there was more to his journey than met mine. I then noticed something about him but I couldn't point it out in my mind.

"Well I guess this is goodbye", concluded TJ as he played with his broken glasses and without answering my question at all. I couldn't tell if he was trying to get home in a hurry or avoid the question, "I better get started before it gets dark." Wait, gets dark? As if hearing my unspoken question he answered, "It's about a four day hike from here to Sin's Playground if I don't stop for sleep and food." WHAT? There was no way I was going to let him do that to himself so I stopped him from walking anywhere. "You can let go Ed", stated Terry coolly trying to shake me off. That was not going to happen.

"No way", I said dragging him to the cemetery because I wanted to see Mom before I went to Pinako's house. "Stay here", I commanded at the entrance, "From now on you and I are going to travel together until my trip here is done. After I say hello to some people you and I are going to Pinako's house for dinner." After saying my instruction I turned away and walked up the path the wind was blowing and my ponytail blowing along with it but it only lingered. I finally noticed a figure on the top of the hill, in front of Mom's grave.

A series of vague flashbacks of my younger years, there be a man in his late thirties with squinty golden eyes and sunshine hair on his strong chin and in his ponytail. I reached the top and he turned to me with a saddened expression on his face he didn't deserve to be anywhere near her grave. My face was flush, why was he anywhere near here anyway. I breathed out his name like a curse, "Hohemheim….." Then I roared out as if I was a lion showing his dominance, "VAN HOHEMHEIM!"

He sounded almost confused when he looked at me and asked in that monotone voice that was so pathetic, "Ed…ward?" There was a silence for a moment and then he opened his mouth, "Have you… grown bigger?"

"Why the hell are you phrasing like a question for", I stated angrily but he answered ignoring my question entirely.

"You've gotten quite a reputation in Centeral", he said, "The 'smallest State Alchemist' in history ever?"

That just pissed me off even more than before I growled out, "It's the 'youngest'!"

"ED", shouted the shorter boy behind me in frantic placement. I looked at TJ who was trying to stop where he was but tripped pulling me down with him. Hohemhiem looked at us both with curious eyes, he probably thought that Terry was Alphonse, ha that's a laugh. TJ stood up some of my metal caught his pants' leg and torn it revealing a metal limb in the place that flesh should be. I stared at it in shock and looked up at him, "An accident a long time ago." He looked to Hohemheim then to me and asked, "Who the fuck are you?"


	3. Meeting Dad

**Meeting Dad**

I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't looking at it with my own eyes where his left leg was to be was a automail leg that shined like a newly washed car. When he used such language with Hohemhiem I could feel a slightly glad that he bad mouthed him off a little, he so deserved it. "And who is this young lady," he said in a monotone voice, was he blind it was obvious that he was a boy. I stood up from the ground and noticed that Terry wasn't arguing with Van which was strange if I was in his position then I would be cursing him out by now.

"The name's Terry sir," said TJ with a still horse voice with his hand out and an innocent smile on his face. All I could think in my head was, traitor.

I bluntly said with a matter a fact tone to the older man, "And he is a boy, not a girl." Instead of a response of a vocal of approval, I got a giant hit to the head that seemed to bleed by a large quantity. TJ looked at me with anger in his eyes this was the first time I was actually looking straight at them and I noticed they had long girlish lashes and light eyeshadow on the eye lids. 'Oh shit,' I thought coming to the realization with at least two-seconds that TJ was of the opposite sex. "Wait you're a girl," I shouted in question earning myself yet another strong hit in the head by the cross dressing girl.

"Yes, I am a girl," shouted TJ before she clutched her throat and groaned a little with one eye closed and the other open with agony. She must have had a sore throat because she always sounded like a guy the entire time I have spoken to him…erm… I mean her. "I guess I can't get too mad at you for mistaking me for a guy," she concluded picking at the cloth of her overalls, "Damn Drake is good at this kind of thing." I just looked at her until I realized Hohemhiem was there still there and got angry again.

"I've heard from Pinako. You did a Human Transmutation?"

TJ stood back letting me go ahead and talk to the asshole that dared to be anywhere near Mom's grave. "So bastard, you still have the cheek to show up here at this time!" I looked my hands balled into fists with a glare in my gaze that burned like the fire that destroyed our house all those years ago. The wind still blew around the three of us and the sounds of leaves rustling against one another like maracas. I couldn't find it in the situation to think anything good would come out of this from him or anyone.

He looked from the grave to me with a confused look and said to me, "What in blue blazes are you addressing your parent as a bastard for?" He then looked back at the tombstone with that pathetic expression on his face that I just couldn't stand.

"You're not just any bastard, you're THE bastard," I exclaimed not caring if TJ saw me act like this, I was just too damn angry. "If you weren't in front of mother's grave right now, I would have knocked you down!" He didn't react at all to my world it was almost like he was ignoring me.

"Trisha…," oh now he shows concern for her after seeing her in her grave. I know Mom wouldn't want me to talk like this, how this was disrespectful and he was biologically my father but I would never accept him as such a thing. "Why did you die…?" What kind of question was that supposed to be? She can't hear you anymore!

"Why? Isn't it because of shit like you," I answered in Mom's place even though she would never say such things to him. She would probably try to cheer the son of a bitch up from his filthy corner of lies and abandonment. Say that it wasn't his fault that this happened to her. I wasn't going to give that privilege to the man who deserted my family all those years ago and went to only he knows muttered to the rock, "A little more time, that's all… a little more time…"

I can't believe him, "Ahh! You planned to give her more hardship in that "little more time"!"

"I promised you so," Hohemhiem was completely ignoring everything I was saying and I was TJ didn't stop me from giving myself laryngitis from all the yelling.

"You don't even know how much work a single woman in a household had to handle!"

"Trisha…," the older man continued seeming to never stop his rant of pity, making sniffling sounds. "Don't leave me alone."

"What the hell," I shouted in annoyance and felt arms trying to hold me back from strangling him, "you're the bastard that left her! Argh, we're not even communicating on the same frequency!" I pointed my metal hand at the bastard while TJ was trying to hold me back with her surprisingly strong arms, "You came back too late and now you have no place to stay! Whatever did you return for!"

For the first time he responded to one of my statements even if it seemed like it was more of him talking to himself than to me. "Ah, yes… my home," Hohemhiem says looking to the long burnt down lot."Why has it been burnt down?" He just looking at the space with a blank expression on his old face, "Nothing… There is not a single thing left of it." I finally calmed down enough to not yell but it still pissed me off that he was anywhere near me and told TJ to release her grip on me. "We decided not to turn back from our chosen path. It will be wise to not have a home to return to. That is a sign of our resolve on our decision."

"No, you didn't," he replied quickly with no hesitation in Hohemhiem's voice unlike the rest of his statements that trailed off every so often. I just stared right at the back of his head as he still spoke, I just gap slightly and I think that the girl in the background gasped in surprised of the outburst. "It's because one doesn't want to see the remnants of one's own mistakes, isn't it?" He turned to face me with those covered eyes that were shaded by the sun's rays and resumed his speech, "Is it for the sake of running away from the horrible images in one's mind brought on by it? Is it to erase the evidence of what oneself had done?"

For some reason I felt somewhat panicked at the words that were coming out of this older man's mouth, "… No, you're wrong!" I could barely get the words out with the thoughts racing in and out of my mind but somehow I was able to choke the words out. I knew he was wrong, he didn't know me, it was obvious that he was wrong about Al and me… right?

"It is just like a kid who wet his bed at night and hid his sheets," Hohemhiem went on crouching down to my level and plainly said as if it were the most well known fact in the world. "You are running away, Edward." He knew nothing of what we had to go through while he was gone. He didn't understand the pain of having to lose someone you had known for your whole life only to have them taken away from you. My anger was back with the force of more than alchemy could ever make. Terry put her hands on my shoulder seeing my tension however it did nothing for me.

"What would a bastard understand about it," I yelled at him, stepped forward one step towards him to get more in his face but TJ was holding me back with little tugs.

"I do understand," Hohemhiem said plainly backing away from our small space.

How dare he say that.I shrugged off TJ's hands from me and turned away from them both and walked away, "… Conversing with a bastard gives me a disgusting feeling."

I heard TJ talk again after the statement I made, "Didn't you come to visit your mother?" She most likely saw the gravestone or listened to the conversation carefully. I didn't see why she wouldn't, if she was just going to stand there being clueless. She wasn't like that.

"Not while I'm in this foul mood!" I walked away following the path to Grandma Pinako's hearing two pairs of feet following me, one faster than the other. Soon TJ caught up to me still carrying her luggage but didn't speak knowing me well enough to know not talk to me in this mood. I can't ask anymore of her… well except for answers to know why she lied to me. I could still hear footsteps behind us and pointed this out, "Stop following us!"

However he didn't listen to me at all, "You're going to Pinako's home, right?" I didn't answer, he didn't even give me enough time, "I'm going there too since I have no other place to go. It can't be helped, I guess." I stayed silent with nothing to say to him as well as the young lady next to me. "… You have left your hair long", he said out of nowhere before speaking again, "and in the same way as mine as well." I stopped and quickly fixed my hair in a braided ponytail before giving him an evil eye. I heard him mutter something but didn't care too much to listen to it but the cross dresser I would love to get answers from.

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><p>Sorry for the bad page before. Something was wrong with the loading process I swear. I hope you guys weren't disappointed by the display earlier made.<p> 


	4. Knowing the Js

**Knowing the Js**

I waited for Pinako's examination of TJ's throat before I could talk with her, after that she called home to talk to someone however she didn't talk to me. I tried to get my mind off of it but it wasn't going to happen anytime soon or to _him_. Hoheimeim was upstairs settle from wherever the hell he was all this time and didn't bother for anything else. I was sitting on a chair by the window it was a little before sunset and couldn't help but think about TJ's condition what could make her so upset. In my thoughts things that just didn't make any sense why was she in these clothes and crying?

Suddenly I saw something in the distance coming towards the house, I stood up trying to get a closer look. A car, a fast one at that it pulled up to the front of the building, causing dust from the ground and into the air like chimney smoke. Out of the dust came a figure in all black looking down at the ground as he walked to the door. His black coat was much like mine excluding the sign of the Alchemist's on the back of it, his black cap covered most of his face but I could just barely make out the the tan skin on his cheek.

His hands were in his pockets and he never looked up until his black hair moved away from his face. The thing was he was looking up as if he was debating whether or not to knock on the wooden cover for the house. I decided to end his suffering by opening the door, I didn't speak nor did the other young boy, a little taller than Terry. Terry was to about my shoulder and this boy was about to my nose probably without that hat of his. His black eyes looked straight into mine in a silent pause between us we couldn't break it until the shorter male stopped it after about two minutes.

"Where is she", he muttered out at me not bothering to give me a proper greeting. His eyes were as cold as they were black making them feel similar to someone else's that I know but I couldn't put my finger on it though. I was so close to figuring it out that it buzzed at my tongue. "I said Where The Hell Is She", his hands were at my collar lifting me a good few inches off the ground. He looked a lot like the depressed girl resting upstairs but at least a year older than her. He bared his teeth at me like a wild animal showing dominance, I'm surprised that he wasn't growling at me.

"Are you Drake", I asked not showing him that I felt at all threatened by him even if he did scare me a bit. He nodded, "Then let me go and I'll take you to her." He let me down with a thud, I looked at him for a second before letting him in the house and leading him to the room Terry was at, since she didn't like to be mistaken as a male again. I knocked at the door, hearing the muffle of crying on the other side, Drake stood there silently waiting for me to open the door. I called out, "Hey TJ. Your brother is here to see you."

I heard a ruffle the steps more like dragging really, the knob turned sluggishly and opened a little as a sign to come in. Drake didn't hesitate to the invite in any moment. The first that came out of his mouth was the thing I least expected but somehow saw coming from miles away, "What the hell are you wearing, TJ?" They didn't look at all like the lived in agriculture, Terry's older brother was in all black and it all looked expensive. Even though I observed this the last part put me off by few steps, "I told you to look like a guy not like me! How much make up did you have to put on? And why do you have a wig? And more importantly I want to know the bastard that did this to you?"

"Hey sib. Nice to see you too", she muttered holding her stomach gingerly and held her gaze to the floor not looking up at her older brother. She suddenly took off her black hair to reveal her ruby colored hair tied up in pins messy and tangled. "I thought no one would mess with me if I dressed like you", she continued with a little sob, her voice had came back thanks to some water, soup and medicine that Grandma Pinako made. Terry's voice sounded completely different than before, more smooth and elegant. She spoke while taking every little pin out of the blood colored strands on her head like blackberries out a bush of red.

Drake stood against the desk in the room listening to all that was ran off her lips as though she was reviewing the statement over and over like a broken record in his mind. I remain a statue on the sidelines listening to the conversation. "Obviously that didn't happen given what's happened", he replied, "I gave you two weeks to get back to Sin's playground a month ago. Now you come back with company, you are too young for this type of thing." It sounded more like a scold than cheering up to me, he was putting her down, she needed comfort not a lecture.

"I know", she answered on the verge of tears.

My eyes met his glare that clearly wanted my out of this, "What are you waiting for, you midget bastard? Get out of here this is kinda a private conversation."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SUPER TINY MIDGET Bastard, YOU SHRIMPY IDOIT", I called out the hypocrite, he seemed to be equally angry if not more from my comment. Serves him right he was shorter than me by more than enough.

"WHO YOU CALLING A SHRIMPY IDIOT, YOU GIRLY PETITE ASSHOLE", Drake yelled at me insultingly getting up in my face about it too. He lifted his leg to kick me in the metal leg, I thought that he would find pain in his foot but instead we both found metal limbs. He looked at the two contacted automail and then looked at the metal arm I forgot to cover with my glove. Then we both heard a laugh from the bed and looked to see that Terry was laughing at our dispute like a idiot. "YOU'RE NOT EVEN DEFENDING YOUR OWN OLDER SIBLING", shouted the over dramatic short person.

She looked great joyful, happy, perhaps her brother through whatever it was she was going through at the moment. He turned away from me and raised a his fist though I don't believe he actually attempt to hurt her or he would have done that earlier when he first saw her. I smiled a small measure seeing them have a rant full of rage that was only replied with near persist sound of laughter. Terry's laughter seemed to finally ease enough to speak between chuckles. "I… can't believe two you… act so much like… each other", she stated pointing her finger at us. "I bet you guys would make the cutest couple." She said this with a wink and a cheesy smile, Drake fell over and I gaped at the red head with disbelief clear on my face as the color of my hair.

"WOULD YOU STOP TRYING TO SET ME UP", shouted the shorter older brother in the room to the young girl. My confusion deepened at that statement, he likes guys? I almost forgot to the questions that needed to be answered, I heard some pieces to puzzle but more of the pieces seemed to be missing in this growing puzzle. I heard a sigh from in I heard a sigh from in front of me that acted like a spring wind mild and somewhat long. "You go take a shower and take all that shit off of you. Since he's apparently coming with us to Sin's Playground, I'll fill him in on the stuff that you didn't", directed Drake pointing to the window, "Your regular clothes are in the car get those before takin' your shower."

Terry nodded with a happy smile on her lips, having her brother here brother here was definitely helping her from the looks of it. The room was then filled with silence, and the little footsteps were faded, Drake only stood before me with that intense glare going right through me. I finally go to the point where the silence was getting annoying, so I filled it in, "So how old are you?"

"Sixteen, I just turned yesterday", the reply wasn't completely monotone but it was pretty close to it to add to that he did waver his blazing glare. "What about you, Braids", he said giving me a nickname that still annoyed the hell out of me.

"It's still about a month or so away from now", I stated not being effected by a person I barely knew anything about. "Are you two twins or something", the glare he had put on was replaced with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. What the...?

"She did it again", I heard him mutter as he shook his head with closed eyes, "She lied to you about her age Braids. She's only just turned fourteen three days ago." I widened my own eyes and gaped at the statement no wonder she was so short, "She does that when she likes an older guy. To answer your other question she's my step father's illegitimate baby girl."

Okay so little fourteen year old girl likes me that's just great, "So what's wrong with her? She seemed pretty upset earlier before you came."

"She still is", added the Black haired boy looking out the window, "she's just hiding it she's going to crawl in a little ball later. Oh that reminds me." He was trying to avoid the question but that thought melted when he pulled out some mail out of his coat and handed them to me. "These were in your mail box", he said looking indifferent, "It looked like no one had checked it yet so I took the liberty of doing it for you." I looked at them all, most of them were payments from customers from far away, others were letters from Winry or Alphonse, however one stood out from the rest of them.

A letter from the Colonel addressed to me, when he said that he was going to send it to me I had no idea how fast he was going to be, Thorn must really mean something to him. I sat on the bed, opening the letter with my transmuted knife on my finger and before turning it back to its original form. It was a complete file of the Nature Alchemist and a hand written letter speaking about her personality to the littlest detail. I put it all back excluding the picture of her and looked up at Drake who didn't move from his spot but his glare was back and his hands were balled in a fist. So he hated alchemists, a lot of the people in Artemis, great.

"She didn't tell you I was a state alchemist", he nodded whether it was a yes she did tell me or a yes she didn't was beyond me. I looked at the picture then at him think that I might get lead from Drake sense he seems to be well known. "This is a girl from about three or so years ago", I started handing him the picture, "Her name is Thorn M. Jada. Does the name sound familiar at all?" He took a look at the picture for a moment but shook his head with a frown on his mouth.

"I may have heard the name before but the picture doesn't ring any kind of bells and I've never been introduced", he answered as he gave it back to to me, he crossed his arms again and silence was once again the only one talking amongst us. That is until a bang was heard from outside, we ran to the window and saw smoke coming out of the hood, "SHIT, MY CAR!"

* * *

><p>R&amp;R please. Constructive criticism please, state some suggestions, or say how its going so far.<p> 


	5. The truth and gears

**The Truth and Gears**

I helped Pinako with her cooking for a ten minutes before Terry walked in and asked me to help her brother with his car as she took the milk out of my metal hand. I was about to protest but she gave me one of those 'please do it for me because I'm cute' look that I just couldn't resist no matter how much I tried. It had been hours since she took a shower and I still couldn't believe the difference from the person I met on the train was this thirteen year old girl. Pale skin gave the biggest difference from her mask of tan seeming to have a healthy glow to its tint. Her ruby hair flowed down her cheek almost like a fluid frame and her her pouted lips that were now glossed. Her blue eyes sparkled at me like sapphires in the perfect lighting.

Since she changed, it was odd to think that I had mistaken her for a guy. The pink spaghetti strap shirt showed off more of her girlish figure than the other outfit did, her skirt was a few inches above her knees and emphasized her hips, like the make up emphasized her face. I couldn't help but look to the old lady at the stove who shrugged and went back to work. I passed Van again that night but I looked away sternly as he, I assume, just stared out as I exited the building into the garage in the back that was rarely used until now. Drake's head was engrossed in the hood of the car as he was fixing what ever was broken when he pulled back his face was covered with grease like blush on a girl.

"I'm here to help how I can", I said with shrug and got… well I got this as a response for my charity.

"Scram and take your alchemy with you, Braids", I couldn't blame her for having a grudge over state alchemists but alchemists period what was this dude's problem. He continued to work by himself not looking at me at all, what was this guys problem. "Ah fuck", I heard him mutter and take off on of engine with a long gash from his hand to the wrist. I went to the first aid that was on the table and went straight to the injured male across the room however he retreated back away form saying again, "I don't need your help!" After saying that he tripped on chair behind him causing him to fall on top of wires and left over automail giving him another wound on the other hand.

Did he have to be so dramatic about the whole alchemists thing? Despite the comments on not touching him, I cleaned and wrapped both wounds with the supplies that were on hand. It was the first time that I noticed that there was a huge scar on his arm, it wasn't a brand however it was to huge to be an accident. Almost immediately before I could ask him anything about it he turned away from me and continued with his work on the car with a wrench and a dangerous air around him. "You could at least thank me", I suggested with an annoyed tone.

"Thanks", I thought he muttered under his breath with airy voice, I found a stool and decided to start looking at the file Mustang sent to me.

Thorn M. Jada, half Ishvalan and half Artemnian, that explains why she has red eyes of all colors. Date of birth is March 27, 1899, so then she'd be older than me by a month. Red eyes, black hair, and tan skin, 'Yeah all that is sorta obvious.' Weight and height, the last time that she was measured was three years ago and she was three feet by one inch and 99.03lbs. I could feel the imaginary sweat on my forehead so its going to be almost impossible to find her with the height was my first thought then another thought came to my mind. "Isn't Thorn a boy's name", I though out loud somehow earning a wrench in my head.

"IT CAN BE A GIRL'S NAME TOO", exclaimed Drake facing me before returning to his work with smoke coming out of his ears in frustration. How in the hell did I deserve that? He soon closed the hood and went to the driver's seat of the car, I heard him turn the motor on with purrs of contentment as Drake finally showed a crack of a smile on his tan complexion hearing the car. He turned the car off and hopped out be gaze me one last glance with a blank expression and left me there without another word.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy", I said to myself before hearing Terry call us to have dinner

_Couple of hours later Third person POV_

Hohenheim stood in the doorway of the young children staring at the son that he hadn't seen in years, how he had changed so much yet so little from when they last saw each other. He stepped into the silent chambers where the only sounds heard were breathing and his footsteps he stopped within arms distance after which he stared at his hand remembering the day when Edward would tug at his pants' leg for attention. The older man reached for a simple touch however it was never granted and he retreated leaving two fully awake teenagers in their beds.

"Human transmutation", spoke Hohemheim in his monotone voice, "Why didn't anyone scold them? Give them guidance" Pinako pour them both a glass of alcohol and gave it to her old friend before answering him.

"How could I in that situation", she paused in order to digest her drink, "you're their father"

"I wouldn't know of a good way to scold them", he answered thoughtfully taking another sip of wine

"Couldn't you at least have given them a phone call", the short old woman asked loudly, "Trisha was always faithfully waiting for you!" Hohemheim looked at his glass as she spoke to him, "If those kids had their father around, they wouldn't have thought of making their mother or any such thing, right? Such poor things! Those kids have seen their mother die twice!"

When Pinako was finished her rant, it was a long moment before the alchemist responded, "Making their mother…" He turned seeing the dog walk into the open door making him aware that at least one of the occupants were awake. "Pinako", he said still looking at the door, "You were the one who cleaned up after them when transmutation failed?"

"Yeah", responded the grandmother with a unsure voice, not knowing where he was going with this.

"Are you sure it was really Trisha", Van Hohemheim asked giving most of his attention to his old drinking buddy.

"I told you that it wasn't…", asked Pinako back, "shaped like a person. I could never think of that thing as Trisha"

The man interrupted, "That's not what I mean." He pushed his glasses further up his nose and trying to make her understand exactly what he was talking about, "For example, the color of the eyes, the voice… the hair color."

"Wh… what are you talking about", she exclaimed sounding out raged by his words, "Are you saying that thing **wasn't** Trisha…?" She slammed her glass on the table surprisingly shattering the container against the wooden table, "Are you saying those boys sacrificed their bodies to create something totally unrelated? That's the cruelest thing I've ever heard!"

Ed was standing there holding back the other brother by the arms away from the door so as not to kill the man who called Ed his son before hearing that the thing that he and his brother created wasn't even their mother the two stopped struggling and shock washed over them both.

_Edward's POV_

"Give it back", I commanded to the light in this never-ending tunnel I was running in with my hand out and almost out of breath. "Give it back", I shouted louder as kept going, moving to a close goal that I was so close to tasting but just out of my touch. "You did that to Al's body! You took him away! Give me back the only family member I have left!" Suddenly Truth came to me upside and in my face with my arm and leg on his body I stopped only then to hear what he had to say.

"Give him back", he asked, "Whatever do you mean? The person who pulled your brother's soul… and gave him a body that can't sleep, that feels no pain, that can feel no warmth, a body that can't even cry… was Fullmetal Alchemist!" Something passed through my mind like lightening when he said my title he said it as though he was mocking a curse, "You did this, and no one else! You did it with your own hands! It isn't my fault that your younger brother was turned into a suit of armor." I felt a presence behind me and turned to see that it was Nina in her chimera form sitting next to her father, whom made her that way.

"You did this to him, Edward Elric", said Shou Tucker, "You turned him into a **monster**."

I couldn't move, I was paralyzed to the spot that I stood and felt helpless to the familiar hands that wrapped themselves around my body in almost whip like moton. "No," Truth continued, "it wasn't just your brother." I felt another hand on my cheek feeling so foreign yet it was so familiar.

"Edward", the breathless sound of my mother's failed transmutation looked straight into my eyes. "Don't leave me here like this, please bring me back to life soon! Promise me?" I could hear my name being repeated over and over again, the gigantic eye was right behind me, the arms lifting me up. My heart was racing at the speed of light sweat was going down my body in beads among beads. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

"ED!" My eyes flew open hearing Granny call for me from the downstairs, "Are you still asleep?" I sat up looking at the arm of metal on my body, my constant reminder of that day along with my leg. "Your father is already gone off." I looked out the window seeing him walking away from the building we were in sweat was still going down my face as his words haunted my memory it burned into my brain like a branding.

_"Are you sure it was really Trisha?"_

I went down the stairs to see Terry was eating her breakfast happily completely oblivious about the horrors of the other night. Drake was nowhere to be seen at the moment but I wasn't too surprise the way he acted last night he was probably taking the energy out on his car. Pinako want to know how my automail was doing so I took off my shirt before hearing something metallic drop to the floor, probably Terry dropping her fork or spoon. I moved my automail arm around a little, "My arm and leg are working fine."

Pinako smiled at the metal limb and said, "Seems that Winry taking her training very seriously."

"Has she called", I asked putting my shirt back on.

"Who's Winry? Your girlfriend", asked Terry looking slightly jealous. I forgot that she liked me for some no good reason, why do girls have to be so damn complicated?

"No she's my mechanic", I said before continuing, "Is Drake still in the garage?"

Pinako answered the question for me, "Yes. He's been in there since last night after we all went to bed." I understood and walked over there to find that Drake was hunched over a piece of paper in his hands, his hair was down covering his face and greasy like a mop. I didn't know what it was and didn't get the chance to see what was on it due to the fact he put it back in his pocket, but he gestured to come sit next to me. He didn't speak for the longest time and I wasn't about to start first, so we sat there in the silence for a few moments then he started with a slightly rough throat.

"They did it, the ultimate taboo as they called it, after my mother died", he said grimly, "my stepfather was the first out of all of us to try it, he was trying to bring my mother back from the dead." He didn't look at me it was as if he was blind his vision somewhat glazed over and his face had some white in it, I guessed that it was from sweat. "His entire upper half was taken away and I… uh, couldn't stop him or help him." His hand rubbed at his metal leg as if it was causing him pain, I couldn't blame him I could feel it in my automail too. "Then my stepbrother was an idiot and thought that he could succeed where my step-father left off", he confessed then looked at me with near dead eye passing through my soul, I didn't get that good look at the picture but it didn't matter. "Us humans could never be gods, Braids… no where close to it." He looked back to the empty space in from of us leaving us back to a veil of silence.

I couldn't tell what to do but with one look at my automail I knew what I had to do now, "Drake." I didn't know if he was looking at me or not but I knew that he heard me clearly, "I need your help with something."

_A few minutes later_

We all except for Terry, whom was told to stay by her older brother, walked out with shovels and day clothes looked to the burnt remains of a once happy house. Grass had grown where the building had been had stood tall Pinako stated, "It's behind the house." We followed right behind the old lady and then she stopped in front of a empty space by the rubble. "If I remember correctly… It's around here. This is where I buried IT!" Those memories flashed back to when it reached out for me with that last breath, I shook holding my gut while I clenched the shovel handle and I felt a hand on my shoulder then leave as quickly as it came, "Should we?"

It took me a moment for me to answer my head hung, I stopped make quaking, lifted my cold hand and spoke in a stern voice. Drake was only suffering half the pain on my weight so if he could handle it then so could I. "No", I said. "The joints are starting to ache. Which means the weather's about to change. Let's get this done with." I was the first plant my shovel in the ground then Drake then Granny, we had only just begun when the rain started to pour down on us but I wasn't focusing on that. My stomach churned and I couldn't hear what was said by Pinako because I was vomiting out my dinner and breakfast.

"Ed", I heard Pinako's exclaimed holding on my back and Drake crouched down to my level avoiding the contents of my stomach. "Don't push yourself too hard!", she insisted rubbing my back comfortingly. It was almost unbearable to deal with but I was going to do this whether it killed me in the process meant I worked hard for it.

"My stomach", I started huffing out my breath struggling against the pain, "It feels like it's twisting itself in two..."

"Of course it does, boy", explained Granny. "This too painful an exercise, even for you!… Let's stop. I don't want this to break to you." I looked down on the ground again huffing, one hand removed itself from my shoulder and two knees lifted from the ground, I followed with them.

"I can't move forward until I know for sure." My hand landed on the handle of the shovel to push me up, the words Hohenheim said to me repeating over and over again. "An alchemist is someone who seeks the truth. I can't just look at what's convenient and ignore everything else." I stood up properly then wiped my jaw of all vomit that exited my system on to my sleeve. "I won't run away… no matter what!" Suddenly a punch was inflicted to my arm thanks to Drake.

"Then shut your big mouth and help dig this thing up", he said bluntly. Wow way to ruin the moment, Drake. I saw that he was clutching at his leg desperately while his face was as determined as mine. I almost forgot that he had history with this kind of ordeal, before my mind could register properly were all working around the area against what seemed to be like acid rain at my joints. I stopped for a moment to once again puke out chunks, my support being the tree, I could feel that my eyes were burning with a fire that had always burned for me.

An hour later after the sweat, pain, and vomit I hit something. I dug my way through the mud to find a lock of hair that was too filthy to identify if it was my mother's so I ran away from the remains. I fell to my knees in front of the bucket of water Granny had brought, rinsing it of any grime and dirt in a haste. My eyes widened and my lungs stopped working for a second seeing our discovery. "Mom's hair was a light chestnut color", I stated with a scared voice even to me I was sounded mortified about this. Like I had a reason not to be. I lifted it to their view, "This is black."

As soon as we took out all of the bones Granny measured the corpse with a calculating look on her face, "This femur is way too long… and this pelvis…" She spoke as she examine the remains closely, "I'm pretty sure it's male." She looked at us with her aged eyes and frowned at the knowledge she had discovered, "This… is not your mother." I fell to the ground in dog pose staring at the ground, I heard feet fleeing the scene leaving only me and who ever stayed with us. I felt everything in my mind exit my body into the atmosphere above me. All the guilt for the death of what I thought was my mother, the hope of bring back the dead to the living, the sadness, the hardship, just everything went out the window of my mind then closed it and opened a door to the new knowledge, relief, and a different kind of hope.

Granny said something but I didn't hear it at all, my face broke the glass of a blank shocked face to a closed eyed grin and laughed for a good two minutes at most. As soon as I stopped rain polished my face of and grief that was left, I stopped smiling then, "So that's it, the undeniable truth. The dead can never come back to life, no matter what we do." More came and I didn't so much as open my eyes to it though, "Whether it's the rules of alchemy or that it's a sin- that's just how it is." Then the question came to my lips, "What am I doing?"

Pinako spoke sternly to me, "Get a hold of yourself, Ed. Hang in there!"

"I'm fine", I reassured, looking down at the remains and continuing my long monologue that Granny thought I was losing my mind. "Hang in there", I repeated in question, my metal hand clenched at my shirt in the stomach area, "From that day to just now **this thing **was a symbol of my despair. Isn't it ironic, Granny? The answer was right here starting point all along." I looked at her straight into her eyes with more than enough confidence for one person to take, "Al can get his body back."

_Third person POV_

Terry was pacing when her older sibling came in clutching the metal leg clothed with experimental covering, "What's the matter?" The black haired teen still clutched at the overheated prosthetic, hissing like a snake repeatedly. Terry finally understood what was going on and ran to the kitchen to get a knife to cut the material with her non-blood related relative let out a sound of gratitude, "What happened out there, Cherry." The nickname burned through the older sibling's ears like a inflamed arrow but there was no response just a hug that expressed the feeling of relief.

"_They did not kill them_", Terry had the shop owner say in a language that was mostly dead to other but them. She automatically understood the meaning and cried into the shirt thanking God that her father and eldest brother's name was never stained with the blood of their own family. "We will go home with no more stains on our past."


	6. Sin's Playground

**Sin's Playground**

The sun finally showed its face to the plains of the blank spot that used to be a settlement of a torn family. Pinako was cleaning her hands with the rainwater in the bucket that she had brought with her. Drake had ran away from it all with a limp hopefully making it to the house, Terry had came to see the remains for herself. Whether she was content or sad was beyond my understanding and I found that I felt nothing that encouraged me to look up from the corpse in front of me. I finally spoke, "Hey Granny. I want to make a proper grave."

Granny asked me after a gasp from the red head averting her cerulean eyes to my form on the ground, "What do you want it to say?"

"I don't know," I answered carefully with no more concerns with the outside world, "This thing… I don't know how, but I saw it move. It **looked** at me. It was a real human being, if only for a moment. I gave it life… and watched it die. It was a human being." I paused, sounding more and more grave with the words that slithered through my mouth, "It deserves... a grave." We found a large stone and put the remains back to the ground with heavy air around us like thick soup. Not a soul spoke; there was not any need to ask so many questions that didn't need an answer. I planted the stone into the ground with enough force to make it stay for a while.

"Ed, if this wasn't Trisha then doesn't that means that Al," I interrupted Granny before she could finish the notion that was already spinning through my head. If I couldn't transmute Mom's soul, then it was possible that Al was not the soul I transmuted either.

"Yeah, but there are some things that need to be confirmed first," I answered then turned to Terry, who looked like she was ready to storm off into house for her brother's comfort. "Granny you are sure that Al and I are Mom's kids, right?" I could feel the confusion radiating off of the two females behind me as we walked down the hill and up the road to the automail workshop.

"No doubt in my mind," she answered without hesitation and continued to speak. "I helped deliver the both of you. You two are definitely Trisha and Hohenheim 's children."

"Okay. Okay good," I replied more to myself than to her. At least there was one thing that was out of the way to our path to the truth. We all made it to the door thinking that everything would be fine and we could relax. We were wrong, at least, about relaxing. We heard the sounds of something dropping down the stairs with unnecessary speed, then a groan of pain. Pinako frantically opened the door to see Drake on the floor clenching his metal leg with pain painted on his entire face and the phone was knocked over. Terry rushed to her stepbrother in a rush trying to lift him up from the ground and drag him up the stairs.

I lifted one of his arms over my shoulder, feeling the cool sweat on flaming hot skin against the flesh of my neck and his heavy breath coming out in hissing. He kept speaking in a language I couldn't understand at all under his breath, and Terry would tell him it was okay along the way to the patient's chamber upstairs. One thing I did notice, as the way went from his previous place on the floor to the room, was that he was extremely light even with automail, which radiated heat through his clothes.

Pinako told me to leave the room for some reason, but I needed to make a phone call anyway. There was hesitation in the movements, but as quickly as it came, it left without warning as the number was applied to the phone. I heard the tone for about 3 seconds, before she picked up.  
>"Hello, Curtis residence," she coughed.<p>

"It's Ed." I said with slight fear echoing in my voice. I sat next to the phone, trying to figure out what I should say and what her reaction would be.

"Oh, Ed, it's you. What's going on?" Izumi asked me, and I could hear slight worry in her voice.

"Um," I thought for second before answering, "There's something I need to ask about, Teacher. This question might offend you and it might destroy something very dear to you… So if you don't want to answer, please just hang up the phone." The sweat trickled down from my brow, going down my cheeks and falling off of my chin as I continued to speak to my former teacher. "You can even cut all ties with me as your apprentice… Actually, you already expelled me, didn't you?"

"What is it? Just tell me," demanded Izumi, practically yelling at me through the phone. Lifting the communication device away from my ear slightly and nibbling at my bottom lip in anxiety, I took this time to ease into the question.

"Teacher, do you remember anything about the time you tried to transmute your child," I asked. The sound was nothing but light breathing through phone wires as well as my own breathing, until I heard a reply.

"Uh-huh," she replied gravely, "How could I forget?" It was no question; it never could be a question. This was always a statement and never a question. Visions of the traumatizing affect were probably playing through her head as the visions of my experience flew into mine. "What about it?"

"I dug up the person that me and Al brought into this world. It wasn't our mother," I said still walking around this dangerous beast that could kill me in an instant with a pause.

"What are trying to say?" This was it. It was now or never even though I prefer it to be never.

"Teacher are you sure that that life you transmuted was really your child?" There was a pause, adding to the weight I already had but I couldn't find my voice in such a strong amount of pressure. Then the line was cut with a loud clank ending the conversation there, a frown almost became permanent on my face after she dropped the call. Granny finally came down after my conversation as she cleaned her glasses with a cloth.

"He's fine," said the old lady as she put her glasses over her eyes, "boy, overheated his auto-mail when he was helping you." Causally coming to the room the old lady had just went into only to find Terry gone and her older brother alone in bed writing something in a small journal. His metallic leg was covered with wet towels over it while his coal colored eyes were masked by a cloth. Suddenly he stopped writing and turned his head to my direction as he put the book aside.

"I heard you made a grave for the person you transmuted," he stated as he sat up in a causal motion that was never rushed. The shorter boy looked at me with dull eyes that still reminded me of someone.

"Yeah what of it," I replied back waiting for the smartass remark I thought would come.

"That's good", I froze over in a mental blizzard with the sharpest strike of lightening going through my head break the glass of my mind. Did he just compliment me? "It shows that you have some humanity in you." His eye were unreadable almost glaring at me without trying to, well it's obvious that Terry and Drake weren't really related but something was bothering me about this guy.

"How is you don't treat your sister coldly?"

"What do you mean," he asked me, giving me a strange look of confusion.

"I mean that your stepfather cheated on your mom and had a bastard child who he probably treated better. Aren't you angry at all?" Right after my speech I found my back to the wall and hung by my shirt at least two inches off the floor and being shot at jet colored bullets from guns on his tan face. Anger, rage, wrath, it was flashed its colors all over his aura as his scent sent its message to fear him more than the plague ever could.

"It wasn't her fault that she was born", he growled, throwing me to the ground and pressing a knife against my throat before I could even blink. "She's all I have left of my family, regardless of who conceived her. She's my sister." He got back up and hid his weapon from sight once more wobbling to the furnishing in the room huffing out air from his mouth. "Say something like that again and you'll find yourself bathing in your own blood." His warning showed no sign of hesitation and his voice carried a deadly tone that focus could cut you with a caress. "We leave for Sin's Playground in the morning be ready."

_Next morning_

Terry and Drake were already in the car where as I was allowed five more minutes before one of the two Jordan's dragged me into the car by force. I had told Granny everything about what the Ishvalians had told me about Winry's parents, well may be not everything. "They said my son and his wife saved a lot of lives on the battlefield, huh?" I nodded in response. "That makes me a proud parent. I don't suppose they told you how they died?"

I turned around away from the old Shorty, as I answered her question without a sign of deception, "No, they didn't."

"I see."

I glanced to the tombstone that lied above mother's body, "That guy… Hohenheim. Any idea where he's going now?"

"Not a clue. He didn't tell me," replied Granny.

"That bastard! He stayed just enough to…" A horn honked from a far.

"Damn it Braids!" shouted the annoyed shorty, "hurry your short ass up now, before I drag you over here."

"Ah how could I forget," exclaimed Granny with an added face palm to the face. "If you see him, I've got a message I want you to tell him."

"What is it", I asked groaning a little with annoyance in my voice.

"Trisha's last wish." Pinako told me about what Mom had said to her and about some promise that she made to Hoheneim.

"Promise? What," I started before I was interrupted by a tug in the ear, "OW! What the hell are you doing?"

"I have a schedule to keep short stuff," Drake let go of my ear and handed Granny a piece of paper. "This is to pay for the mechanics I used for my car, the stay for Terry and myself as well as for the food you made us." Granny nodded to the worker, telling him that it wasn't necessary but Drake insisted that she keep the money. I was then dragged to the car where we drove off for the next four hours with a preppy red head while her older brother drove in the front seat with a yawn.

The drive started with Terry having the inability to stop talking to me, asking me about alchemy and Drake telling us to stay off of the subject entirely. After about four hours of driving, Terry fell deep into the wake of dreamland the car became a silent field. I started thinking to myself about the barely awake boy driving the car. Other than what he and his sister had told me, I don't really have a lot of knowledge about, something just sparked me as off with him. I finally asked out of boredom, "What is it you do exactly anyway?"

Drake stiffed a little but didn't respond as he struggled to keep his eyes open, "Why would you wanna know?"

"Well," I said looking out the window, "I am going to be staying with you for a few days so I want to know who it is I'm staying with."

Drake seemed to still be drowsy fighting sleep to keep driving, "Fair enough." He took off his hat too brighten his vision however he still seemed too tired to drive. "I work in the Lust section of Sin's playground." I was about to ask what he did exactly but lights broke my question in two, it wasn't a fancy town. It didn't have flashy lights but it was definitely different. Trash was on the ground, people were making out with each other no matter what the gender or the race. Some lights were lit by candle others by light bulbs showing the filth of the streets posters were around the place but it was to dark to see. "Welcome to Sin's Playground: Lust section", he stated grimly as he pulled up to a building.


	7. Meeting the Girls and Drake is a what?

**Meeting the Girls and Drake is a what?**

The building looked nice on the outside with the plain white paint job and there were plants in the front though they were wilting a small bit from the change of season. Lights were on and people were gathered at the front door, music swam through the air along with the conversations of the lives they lived. Looking beside me I could see the teenage brother fill to the brim with rage. "Stay put", he pulled out a pistol from the abyss under us before checking if it was loaded, which it was from the sound of it.

He stepped out of the car and aimed at what exactly I don't really know to be honest until he fired. One of the guys nearly pissed his pants when the bullet landed near his foot. The sound on its own was enough to wake anyone up but Terry still laid deep in sleep. The near victim's voice turned from yelling to a girlish scream alerting everyone that it was time to leave the get together as if it had turned to flame. Mere seconds went by and he stopped one girl most likely early twenties from passing his property, "Jen you know the rules!"

His voice sounded almost cracked but the older woman cringed and ran back inside. He finally motioned back at me to come inside; I shook the … thirteen-year-old girl? No she's fourteen that's right she had her birthday a week ago. Blue gems were revealed themselves to my golden orbs in a drowsy haze before waking up with a smile on her lips. Walking up to the doors opening to find the inside surprisingly clean considering the amount of people that ran for their lives.

The inside was completely different from the exterior of the building, with mood lighting that kept the house in shadows while the dark crimson walls didn't help to see the scene. The décor screamed forbidden and fright but when he saw the strongest light in the house on the other side of what looked like a desk, it flashed the blood spatters on the wall almost unnoticeable. I walked towards the light, hearing voices from a wide open door on the other side of the corridor where Terry had already walked through. Finally walking through the blinding light I saw a kitchen with at least twenty young looking women.

Skimpy cloth barely covered their bodies from view and they stared at me as if I was a new species with curiosity in their eyes. Drake sighed, whether it was from annoyance or something else was unknown. "Girls, this is Edward Elric you may more than likely know him as the Fullmetal Alchemist." They still remained silent as he spoke, "He will be staying with us until his business here is finished. Any questions?" One brunette haired girl raised her pale hand with perfect nails on each finger, "Yes, Rachael."

"Cherry, when are planning on getting laid", she asked with fake innocence in her voice.

"THAT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS", shouted Drake again cracking his voice. "Any other questions?" Every one of the girls raised their hands, "Any questions that _do not_ concern the subject of my sex life?" Their hands were lowered and my own rose up, "Yes, Braids."

"Where am I sleeping?"

"In the spare room upstairs I'll show you when everyone goes to bed", he answered without hesitation. "Which is now since you all decided to have a party without my consent!" They all groaned in disappointment, "Stop complaining! Or else I'll make dinner!" With a joined terrified scream a mob of girls ran passed the door I was standing in leaving Drake, a sleeping Terry and I left in the kitchen. Terry was thrown over Drake's shoulder and taken upstairs where I was to follow.

"Are you really that bad at cooking", I asked in a hushed voiced as to not awaken the sleeping redhead, I received a morbid nod that was faced to the floor. The tanned teenager stopped at a door and opened it to reveal a bedroom as pink as they come with the occasional weapon on the wall, mostly guns. I didn't question it even though it was on the tip of my tongue; I only followed the shorter boy leading the way. He stopped again and opened the door to a shack of a room wood flooring was damaged, the bed looked uncomfortable and just a mess.

"This is your room", he said quietly, "Breakfast is at seven sharp and ends at seven-forty five while dinner is at eight and ends at nine. If you come late you make your own food." He turned away leaving me to the crappy room he gave me to sleep in knowing too well that I was not going to sleep well tonight.

_Next day_

First thing I noticed when the light shined in my eyes was something warm beside me, feeling a certain area and it was breathing. Turning my head to see a beautiful woman on the other side of me with her hand down my pants. The door opened to reveal an annoyed Drake holding his scarred hand up in a fist, black eyes fuming with rage. The woman instantly woke to the sound of a slamming door as she clenched on to my… "head". She ran out the room with fear in her every quickening step, my host glare at me then left.

After changing into some clothes, which consists of what I usually where, black jacket and pants along with my red coat with the alchemist symbol. Walking down stairs into the kitchen to find no one there but a note standing that said, "Braids" in bold next to a white coat on a chair. Opening it the message said:

_Dear Braids,_

_You missed breakfast this morning and since its your first day I'll let it slide but don't except this again. There's some porridge in the fridge for breakfast and wearing an Alchemist symbol out in the open is suicide here so don't wear your coat outside. You can already guess what the coat on the chair is for unless you're retarded. I won't be around most of the day since I have another job to do in town. The girls will want to eat you alive seeing as you're a virgin so stay clear. I'll see you all tonight._

_Drake_

'Huh', I thought with a raised an eyebrow, despite the cold attitude and the yelling he actually has a heart. Then I processed the last part of the note. HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW I WAS A VIRGIN? A moment of getting over it passed and I took off the jacket I was wearing and put the other one on. It was about nine thirty when I left the building, heading into the concrete jungle of the Lust section. I took the photo with me hoping someone would recognize her. After about two hours I came face to face with nothing.

Nothing until I met face to face again with something else or someone else, "Oh sorry." She was different from the picture since her younger years but it had to be her there was not a doubt within miles that could be found to say it wasn't her. Her short black hair was now to her mid-back waving in the wind as though it was this mess ink in water. Her blood red eyes matured but still contained the child like wonder sparkling inside them. Her skin was much tanner than the picture had given but either way she was cute.

She pushed away rushing somewhere but I had to stop her. Her flesh hand met with my metal one, though I could not actually feel her something electrocuted my senses. She stepped away again not getting out of my grip this time. "Is your name Thorn M. Jada", I asked the girl I was almost positive was she. She looked away from me as shook herself free and running as far from as possible. I followed, tracking her for a good minute or so until I lost her. Damn it she was right in front of me.

Suddenly I pushed out of the way of their path from the side. "Hey", there stood Drake wearing his spare sunglasses and a suit. "What are you doing here", he asked taking the small stick out of his teeth. His hair was gelled back making him look like a professional boss from a mafia or a business. The suit was new or at least it looked new and the shoes were nicely polished, shining in the sun like a pair of priceless gems. That was not what he was wearing when I last saw him.

"I could say the same", I replied looking him in the sunglasses. He shrugged at me with what I assumed was indifference under those shades that shielded those jet-colored orbs from sight.

He responded coolly, "I told you that I had business to take care of."

"What kind of business would that be?"

"My business. Is this really necessary to interrogate me", he asked me leading me away from the crowd of the street on to the alleyway next to a lamppost.

"Well you know how alchemists are", I threw in with a smartass attitude. "Nosy." He pinched the bridge of his nose before shaking his head at me allowing a strand of black in his face.

"That's it you're coming with me", he decided with a sigh taking my hand in the opposite direction of the way I had seen Thorn go.

"Why", pulling the other way I questioned.

"Because you are looking for someone in the Lust section right?" I nodded. "Guess what hot shot… YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING GLUTONY SECTION!" My ears instantly rang at the sound of his yelling.

"Then why are you here?"

"I have a potential client in the Greed section which is across from here and now you're gonna have to follow me." I still kept looking back to where I saw her, I was seriously thinking was the girl I was looking for while Drake just kept complaining.

"Are you listening to me?"

Man what a long day. Then it hit me, "Drake what are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's your occupation?"

"Oh", he answered coming into a darker part of town. "I'm a pimp, you didn't notice?"


	8. A pimp

**A pimp's work is never done**

Soon we arrived to the house… well what Drake called a house at least. It looked as big as a capital with vibrant interior and fancy painting looking down at us with menacing eyes. The maid guided our way to her master's room acting submissive to the cool Drake and myself in a slave-like manner not looking at us in the eye. Heels clicked against the tile with each step the two in front of me took repeating the beat in sync with each other as if marching in to battlefield completely calm. I wasn't used to this atmosphere curiosity fueled my wondering in mind with new questions by the minute.

How did he gain this kind of job? Why wasn't an adult handling this kind of work instead of a sixteen year-old boy who was even shorter than me? Staring from behind the two simply walking as if it were a normal day until the maid muttered something under her breath. I couldn't hear it but the pimp did and reacted in a way I wasn't expecting at all. He stepped faster gripping her chocolate colored hair and pushing her against the wall causing her to yelp from pain making my body react pulling him away. She was much taller than the both of us but she crouched down becoming small and weak, he elbowed me in the rib making me let go.

"Never make the mistake of talking about anyone in my family, bitch", he said gravely promising death for the next time it would repeat. His scarred hand grabbed the tresses of brown with more force, "I offered you a job with me once but you refused because of how the public would look at you." I froze still in my spot on the floor still thinking of the situation. They know each other? "Now look at you", he added with disgust. "You can't hide those hickeys on your neck, the bruises on your arm, and you could never hide broken ribs from a punch. Least of all you can't hide it from me."

He turned away from her and brought a hand out for me to grab on to, I took it. Drake dismissed her saying that he knew the way from here with a bow of respect and defeat clear on her face the maid left going off to do what needed to be done. He led the way to a room but turned to me knowing I was boiling inside with questions. "How do you know that girl?" Not what I really wanted to ask but it was a start for him to answer.

"She's a runaway", he said simply, "She's older than you and I by six years but she was weak at the time." I nodded to him for a continuation, "She's from one of the western countries but she still has quite a mouth on her. I offered her job with me but she refused saying that she'd rather be dead than one of my workers." The young pimp huffed at the memory of him and that older woman and spoke once more, "Then she went on to say that the girls and I were going to hell."

He turned away from me reaching for the door but paused when I asked, "How did you get this kind of business?" He ignored me then opening the door confidently entering an entirely different world with women passed out on the bed and a man in the corner of the room smoking with only a pair of pants on his person. The man wasn't in the best of shape with his stomach bulging out slightly and arm fat in his underarms but his face was good looking I guess.

He turned to see the pimp nodding out of acknowledgement taking his cigar out of his mouth, "Hello Mr. Jordan. You're early."

"Don always said either be ten minutes early or one second late", replied Drake putting his toothpick back in his mouth.

"Ah yes Donatello would say something along those lines, didn't he", analyzed the man towering over us both reeking of sex and smoke as he walked towards us. "But enough of the past let's look at the future." His hair managed to stay in a good blonde color but a few grays flashed if you looked close enough, "It would seem that you have done the one thing Donatello could not accomplish." His voice sent shivers down my spine in long wave that lasted for years while Drake remained unfazed.

"Then you'll be a client for Don's House of Pleasure", the smartly dressed boy stated as a question not revealing any sign of emotion. The look on his face said yes but a question was clearly on the tip of his stained tongue, "Did you have a question for me, Mr. Neval?"

He nodded caressing Drake's chin so lovingly you would think they knew each other as more than just business, "Well I know this is a tad forward however might you have any men in your arsenal, I would love to feel your… merchandise." Mr. Neval, as Drake had called him, slipped his pale hand rubbing Drake's waist as the other hand groped a feel for butt. Drake stayed still it wasn't until he went in for a kiss that I stepped inputting my hand on the older pervert's shoulder.

"I'm sure that you can work something out", a glare came from the pimp and was out of the arms of the pedophile.

"Yes well I have the over there by the dresser, already signed", he said in a more business voice, "and Tamera is under the sheets." I turned my head to the bed but Drake had already beaten me to getting the woman from the bed. I walked to the dresser where an envelope stood out in the dark colors of the room another way of chills walked down my spine as the man addressed me, "And who might the blond beauty be? Hm?"

Before I could respond Drake answered with a decent lie, "He's my assist for the time being and not for sale." Once the woman was dressed in more appropriate clothing he said his goodbye with a handshake with dirty hands, "We'll see ourselves out have a nice day sir. Oh, make sure you clean up for your wife."

The older man scoffed, "My wife died by an idiot's hand."

He said it like a bad joke, which disgusted me further with not only Mr. Neval but with Drake as well. I wanted to hit him right then and there when he left without saying a word of protest for the man's harsh words. I wanted answers and I wanted them now. It was when we finally entered the house; I exploded at Drake who remains void of all emotion while I ranted. He let me scream at him for how disgusting this business and of him being in it in the first place, he let me punch him in the face and when the girls came down he told them to back away from this quarrel.

His black hair once pulled back was now in his face hiding his eyes when I finally calmed down I noticed how much of a beating I had given him. His breathing was normal but it was obvious that he had gained quite a bit of damage. However he stood up as if nothing happened, blood on his face sliding down his neck into his shirt. Drake flashed his handkerchief wiping away all of the crimson liquid from his face, and was about to say something when a knock came to the door. "Girls. Upstairs. Braids. In the kitchen we'll talk later", he commanded moving to the door while everyone else moved; I stayed where I was leaning against the wall watching the seen. "Are you here on business or pleasure?"

Two police officers down at the short pimp only looking in sympathy, "No Drake actually we have some bad news." He was given a file but looking at it gave a sense of dread to the room, "She was found by a homeless man in the area and we identified her ourselves." The pimp took a few steps back from the door with the greatest look of horror on his tan face, "We thought you would want to be the first to know about this." His hands came to his face hiding the sorrow he felt, they didn't look at me for a second only, "We'll leave you to tell the rest of the residence. We give our deepest apologize."

Once the door shut close silence became part of the room's allure, only it felt like a funeral now, "Who did they find?" The question seemed to echo through the building like a canyon but only reply was my own echo. His body was in such shock that he dropped the file and fell back on one of the lush couches his arm covering his eyes. The file opened when it fell; there staring back at me was the girl that I met that very day on a metallic table. Roy was not going to be happy about this; it was positive that this girl was in fact the girl I was looking for. From the name to the physical appearance it was without a doubt Thorn.

Before I could say anything Drake was gone and Terry was at the stairs looking with her red hair in her blue eyes, "Why's Drake so sad?"

"Thorn's dead", I replied looking to her with betrayed eyes, she was a deer caught in the headlights. "Why didn't you tell me you knew?"

"Edward I'm sorry but you don't know the whole story", she tried to explain her reasons but I didn't listen. Instead I ignored her going up to my room thinking to myself, 'Why would they lie?' I heard heels clicking on the hard wood floor but ignored them only thinking to myself more and more.

_With Terry third pov_

Terry looked down at the girl in the photo then back, 'Maybe I should tell him.' Just as the red head was about go upstairs the sight before her took the air inside of her away. A girl she had not seen in so long came out of the darkness from the stairs in the least amount of fabric Terry had ever seen her wear in her entire life. Her black hair was straightened shinning under the mood lighting with the air changing it's scent with perfume crawling on every molecule of the room. Uncovered eyes framed with mascara painted eyelashes walking to door before meeting the red head in the eyes, "If I don't make it back tonight, you're in charge of business."

It had been so long since her real voice was spoken the rhythm in the sound emitting out of her mouth. After the girl walked out of the building Terry looked down muttering, "Oh, Edward", she mused, "if you only knew the truth."


	9. Dead or Alive

**Dead or Alive**

Ed sat in the bed he had slept for a single night as he stared at the photos with a pair of saddened golden orbs as waves of regret washed over him. 'This is Alexander and Nina all over again', thought the alchemist remembering Tucker's work and how he had failed to save the young girl and her dog from her father's twisted selfishness. His grip loosened a bit letting a piece of paper slip to the ground with a light hit. He put the other papers down and picked the fallen document from the dirty floor as his brows furrowed together.

'Oh yeah, Roy made a list of what she was like,' remembered the Fullmetal Alchemist skimming over it, not really reading the content of the document, as he headed to the phone next to the bedroom door. He placed the numbers in the correct order and after a few rings the hospital finally connected him to the bedridden colonel, whom was wide awake for some unknown reason to Ed. "Did you find her yet", asked Col. Mustang again with same amount of worry as before. The hope in the older man's voice almost made Ed's heart make another crack on its surface.

Edward took in a breath before answering back to his superior, "Yes I found her." Before Roy could say another word Ed spoke once again, "but she's not with us anymore." Talking around death is something he didn't usually do but Roy seemed to have a special connection to the girl. There was a moment of silence between the two alchemists, Roy let the knowledge sink into his mind, breaking his heart in the process. She was gone?

"How long ago", the black haired man muttered into the phone having every doubt in his mind.

"About nine hours according the autopsy report", announced the golden haired teen.

"Are you sure", Roy asked again with concern in his voice. "Are you absolutely sure that its without a doubt Thorn?" It was obvious that she wanted it to be a lie, "Did the girl have any piercings, a scar, anything like that?"

"A belly piercing but no scars found on the body", he answered thinking that Roy would accept defeat but no it was Roy after all.

"Thorn has a scar on her arm from when she was in Ishval with her mother." The image of Drake came to mind, he remembered the pimp say something his mother dying during the Ishvallan War. "It's from her hand to a little past her elbow."

"I have to go", pronounced Ed, not even bothering to saying why. He rushed out of the room and to the downstairs lobby to find a worried looking Terry with her ocean eyes fixed on her fiddling hands "Where's Thorn", asked Edward in a rushed tone with golden eyes emphasized making an artificial glow.

Terry looked up at the alchemist with a spark of shock in her sapphire colored eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about", she denied, the look gave her away immediately to the scientist.

Edward gripped both of his hand on the fellow Arteminian's shoulders, stressing the importance of the situation. "Look Terry, I know that Thorn is Drake and she is in a lot of danger as we speak", he tried to explain to her. Terry looked down at the lamp's feet finding it far more interesting than him. "Terry, please."

"She's on the street somewhere in the Lust section", the red head confessed in defeat. "She's planning on stopping these murders herself after her other job."

"Where", he asked again.

"Varieties' theater."

_**One hour later**_

Leaving through the back door as she always did with her paycheck and gun in her purse. Her eyes moved around to scan the darkness around her keeping her guard up at all times. Thorn still felt a shiver in her spine at the thought of her creation dying at the hand of this killer however she had seen worse in the days she had spent in Ishval. 'But a homunculus isn't supposed to died', she thought to herself starting to walk out the alleyway. 'They're immortal, aren't they?' She shook her head to bring her back to reality; she wasn't supposed to be even thinking about alchemy. Not after everything.

Suddenly a scream came from the street causing her to run and find a pair one convulsing on the ground while the other stared patiently for something to happen. With no hesitation the pistol was fired straight in between violet colored eyes that fell to the floor in a dark mess, keeping her ruby orbs on the figure on the ground until she stepped into a puddle of familiar crimson liquid. She stepped down to check for a pulse but all that met with her tan fingers was blood. Suddenly a voice came out from the side of the scene, "THORN LOOK OUT!"

The earth in front of her was pushed towards the sky as the body she had just shot away from her. Thorn lifted her gun leveled with ice red daggers in each eye socket seeing Ed as he finished a transmutation. She knew it was pointless to keep up the act but she needed to know for sure that he didn't know that she was Drake. "Who are you? What's going on? What …"

"Thorn don't play dumb you know exactly who I am", interjected Ed, his eyes filled with a golden fire of anger. "Now get out of here before…" Ed couldn't finish his sentence when something pushed him against a wall.

"You're a homunculus", she stated plainly holding her gun level and ready to fire. The palm tree haired creature created a sinister smile as if laughing at her attempt.

"Thorn run now!" Ed shouted at the mutt holding the gun to her immortal opponent transmuting the ground to block her from sight. He saw her pick up something on the ground before doing as he instructed, just not as he wanted her to.

"Hey girl you want me come and get me", she taunted the artificial human to get her away from the golden haired boy. That idiot, that was the reason for the shield in the first place. Edward in the same direction when Envy ran after Thorn with anger in his eyes, what is she doing?

Thorn was having trouble running that much he could tell from her wobbling figure. However why wasn't she using her alchemy? She should at least have a transmutation on her. That was when he remembered what Terry had confessed to him earlier. She was beginning to tired and that was her mistake. Her waist was wrapped in the constrictor arm of Envy squeezing the life out of her making her breast pushed out even more. "Didn't I already kill you? Oh well, I can't very well have anymore witnesses now, can I?" Ed transmuted ground once again only succeeding in pissing the homunculus even more.

Suddenly darkness shrouded Envy's form without the struggling Thorn being included, 'This is my chance.' He ran up to the two, destroying the snake arm and grabbed her bridal style getting as far away from the scene as the blonde could. He finally stopped at an alleyway once he was sure the palm tree haired male wasn't following them and sat down to relax until a knife was against his throat, a gun against his temple, staring into murderous blood eyes. "How much do you know", she asked with a dangerous breath. Gee that was a great thank-you.

"I know you were in Ishval when your mother was killed by a state alchemist. I know you killed more Ishvallans than any other State out of revenge for her death. I know that your stepbrother tricked you into doing human transmutation. I also know that you were successful." His answers weren't rushed or filled with fear; he was calm about this, when talking to a mass murderer he had to be.

"Now give me one good reason", she said it carefully as the gun was cocked and the knife was pressed deeper under slightly tan skin. "Why I shouldn't just kill you right now."

"Because you don't want anymore bloodstains on your hands." Their breaths were mixing as if as a challenge to make the next move, him with his alchemy or her with her weapons. May be he should have gone with the fact he had a younger sibling too but then he would have to explain his venture with Truth. Their eyes searched in each other for truth, for anything. Finally she put the safety on and lifted the knife from his now marked neck with a sigh.

Thorn stood up with her scarred hand to him to help him up off the ground, which he took still holding her palm as she led him to the shop.


	10. Alcoholic Confessions

**Alcoholic Confessions**

You couldn't blame him for the blush on his face, this was the first time he was noticing her clothes and they weren't exactly what one could call modest or decent for a young lady. He knew about women anatomy, I mean come on he's not only an alchemist he was also a teenage boy for Truth's sake. However he was still a little innocent in mind and he was still trying to find it in his voice to ask how she could hide those melons in the cloth. She said that she would get some drinks he never was one to be speechless (in his mind) but he was now lost in any words.

"Back with beer", said the tan girl carrying the drinks in large mugs, still wearing the outfit but a coat mostly covered it. Ed grabbed one and hers in the other, she lifted the mug to ruby colored lips as he looked at the cup and smelt the stench of alcohol in the liquid, putting it down on with the liquid she wasted no time with the questions, "So, what do you want to know?"

"Why did you leave?" He would ask about the clothes later.

Her face was blank for a second until she spoke her terms, "You can ask me anything as long as I can ask it to you too."

'Damnit, she's going to play it like that', the mentally cursed. "Ok, how did you know that guy was homunculus?"

"The guy came back to life when I shot him in the head. I've seen people live from a gunshot in their brains but I hit his brainstem too." Her answer was reasonable, "You?"

"I know him. His name is Envy", he answered back just staring at mug like it were milk. She stood getting another cup filling it up with another yellow substance, lemonade, and came back to give it to him. "Why did you lie about your identity?"

She thought for a moment to think of a good answer, "I didn't want anyone to find me. You?"

Ed gave Thorn a calculated glare, "I never lied about my identity." Her face went blank again as she lifted his opened watch, as its tick seemed to cry out for help. He grabbed it then closed it before answering her, "People don't like alchemists that only work for the government. Besides I said a half truth."

"Half truths are just sugar coated lies", shot back the half Ishvalan taking another sip of beer. "How come you can do alchemy without a circle? And I want the whole truth."

Ed looked at his hostess with an incredible look, "I tried to revive my mother with my brother and we saw Truth." She raised her brow in suspicion at him trying to see the lies in his golden eyes with her red ones then looked down at his metallic arm. "I lost my leg to my mom or the person I made, my brother gave his whole body. I lost my arm to bring him back in an armor." He pointed at Thorn for her reply.

"Huh", her only reply before taking a drink of her beer then saw his waiting face. "I wouldn't know if I could or not."

"Do you remember seeing Truth", he asked, remembering how Alphonse couldn't remember meeting Truth and thinking that was the answer.

"I remember", she answered with a nod of her head. "I just haven't done alchemy since that day otherwise my cooking would probably be a lot better than it is now." Blush was reaching her face and her eyes were starting to glaze over with one more sip of the alcohol.

'Great she's getting drunk', Edward thought taking a sip of his lemonade out of his glass.

"I tried to revive my stepbrother but that resulted in a coma and a lost leg", she confessed with a small slur in her voice. "Do you remember meeting it?"

Ed nodded, "Why is it you're not called the youngest state alchemist?" She gave him a goofy smile as she shook her hand at him.

"That's a question for just me, Braids", she giggled a little. "Try again."

Ed thought for a moment then looked at her scarred hand, "Since you know what happened to my arm, lets hear what happened to yours." He had read that she got it from Ishval but nothing in the report had said how or why.

She sobered up a little but frowned at the memory like a bad deed. "I had snuck in on a truck that was carrying food for the soldiers in Ishval. All I wanted was to see my mom again and bring her home." She took out a paper from her shirt and handed it to him and as he looked at it. It was a picture of a little girl with red eyes and long black hair with a Ishvalan woman, an strong older gentleman hold a pink sheet in a bundle and boy giving the young girl a hug.

She continued, "When I got off and even before that I didn't know the people on the ground were dead until my mother died. My mom found me in the open; she looked like she hadn't slept or ate in days. She asked me all these questions like, 'how did you get here' or 'where's Drake or Don' while she was knocking on all of the doors. She was either shot at or pushed away just cause her little girl wasn't an full Ishvallan."

Ed saw the tear threatening her face and took Thorn's scared palm causing the girl to jump a little, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's not that I don't want to", she said taking her hand back, "Just needs to be said, okay." 'What was that', she mentally asked herself as the sensation of his metallic palm on the top of her scarred hand as if it yearned for his touch. "Anyway after awhile we stopped for a breath and that's when I met an State Alchemist named Kimblee who was stopped by another state alchemist but once Kimblee used alchemy to crumble the ground, the other alchemist lost control and scorched my mom. My mom saw the blow", she said this as her marked arm was on her left eye. "So she pushed me away taking most of it herself, however my arm is now forever marked by that flame."

She took another gulp of the alcohol before he realized that most of her brain wasn't completely rational anymore. "I think you had too much to drink, Thorn." He stood up and took him to his room, ignoring her slurred protest as she brought into bed. Half the words she was saying wasn't even Arteminian. Ed then tucked her in however his eyes lingered to her body, 'Thorn what are you not telling me?' His golden eyes stayed on her for a second before heading to the door with a small smirk on his face.

Next day

She first noticed the feeling of her head knocking in pain at how much she had drank last night. When her eyes opened the sun from window blinded her pure red eyes causing the girl to groan in annoyance as her hands reached for a blanket to cover her eyes. That's when she noticed that her wrists were bound by something metal as well as her ankles, keeping them both away from each other. Although she was half awake and hung over she could at least produce a single thought in her foggy mind, 'The hell happened last night?'

The half Arteminian felt her bed move as if vibrating and her mind finally processed that this was not her bed. "So you're finally awake", said a voice who's form was concerned by the sun's light and thanks to the massive hangover his voice was booming in her head. The figure finally took the shades to block the sun revealing the blonde midget holding two coffees one was out to Thorn the other was on Edward's lips. Thorn took her cup not really feeling like arguing until the headache was completely away; the silence drops its curtain on the two alchemists.

"So you are kidnapping me from my home to get me to East City", she asked her bluntly, her hangover still tapping at her head.

"Central."

"Hmph", was the noise that came from her throat as she smashed the wooden cuffs with the automail leg and removing the shackles, trying to ignore the headache ringing in her head, as she looked even more tired. He looked surprised at the cross-dressing girl as she drank more of her coffee.

"So, why aren't you the youngest State Alchemist", he asked, remembering Thorn's outrageous drunken personality rejected the question.

"I'm not a State Alchemist that's why", Thorn answered taking a sip of her coffee. "Who told you I was a State anyway?"

Edward thought about his answer very carefully before giving his objective his answer. "My Colonel told me." She gave a shrug to him but gave the cup of brown liquid a thoughtful expression as the steam arose from the container. "What's wrong now?" He whined, not wanting her to start complaining about anything like her coffee.

"Terry switched my beer with tequila last night", said Thorn out of blue, as she lifted her cup to her mouth.

"How could you tell", asked the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Beer, vodka, whiskey. I can handle them all but tequila is just one drink I've never been able to handle. Terry knows that so she spiked my beer supply with the stuff", she explained with a hand at her aching head.

She had earned no sympathy from the young State Alchemist, who watched her with suspicion in his golden eyes. 'Does she even remember what happens last night', he thought, remembering the jumble of words she spoke last night but doubted it since she didn't seem like that kind of drunk, not that he knew a lot of drunks. "Is Arteminian your first language?" She shook her head in response before he said in a snarky tone, "That's why you kept on saying…" He struggled with the words for a good amount of time before saying a rough version of what she had told him last night.

As she heard her own drunken words spoken to her, screaming hot coffee shoot out in rockets straight into Edward's face causing him to cry out in pain and drop his coffee on his crouch.

'Oh god', Thorn thought cracking the cup in her unscarred hand as she blushed at the rough translation hoping that that wasn't what she said last night because the blush on her cheeks would be darker that the color of her crimson eyes. Ed was yelling out curses out of pain making everyone look their way as the event went on until the half Arteminian glared at the nosy crowd, who turned around as if nothing happened. Staff hurried to the liquid burning Shorty as they quickly removed his pants. Thorn locked her expressions away when that happened feeling somewhat better when the situation was something.

The crowd lessened around Ed and the awkward moment became one-sided the rest of the ride there.

Three hours later

A word was still not spoken between the two alchemists as they walked to the hotel, one in shackles hands, the other keeping his gold hawk eyes on her. The two finally got inside; Thorn with sunglasses to hide her ruby red eyes while Ed held her chain. Ed found a familiar face by counter, "Hey Winry."

Suddenly Winry jumped out at the other blonde in tears as she cried out, "YOU IDIOT!"

"Whaa!? I didn't break the automail!" Ed replied in a panic to the whining tall young woman who made the short large breasted girl feel overweight and disproportionate.

The mechanic ignored the veteran and kept talking to Ed as she panicked. "It's not that! Just get to Al right now!" She pushed her friend to the direction of the stairs too focused to see the girl behind them being dragged by the wrists while she said nothing at all, hoping the State Alchemist would let go of the chain. Which didn't happened until the door was closed behind them and a banged up suit of armor with glowing eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" shouted Ed pointing at the damaged armor that murmured back in a child's voice with the echo inside. "What the heck did you do while I was gone!" He turns to the two Xingense people at the table, "And what are you doing here?!"

"We're eating", said the longhaired boy stuffing his face with a drumstick. Shortly after the blonde kicked them out of the room, not leaving enough room to escape from clutches of her blonde captor.

Ed yanked the chain preventing her from trying again and went over to his little brother examining the damage, "You broke it significantly. I think I'll use the surroundings since the parts none of the other parts aren't here."

"The armor is gonna be thinner though", continued Thorn finally getting loose of the chain at last while he repaired his little brother's metal body.

"Who are you", asked Winry finally noticing the glasses wearing female in the room as she starred at her scarred wrists, the rest of her arm covered by the tan sleeve of the coat, as she rubbed the pain away.

"Thorn", Ed replied still working on Al, "Thorn M. Jada."

"And you're Winry Rockbell", Thorn pointed out with indifference then at the suit of armor, "and you're Al." Suddenly Al looked away making his older brother worry as well as everyone else.

"What's wrong", asked Ed meeting the glowing eyes that looked away again.

One explanation later

Ed nodded while still repairing, "The homunculus and Barry the Chopper. You sure were busy while I was gone." His expression turned across from angry and panicked, mostly anger, "Plus a rejection between the incompatible soul and body."

"It makes sense though", added Thorn playing with the knife, while flipping it around before marking the floor every time in thought. "Inanimate objects aren't exactly known to have souls on their own."

Winry became worried for her soul bound friend when Thorn spoke so gravely of the subject. Winry turned her face to the working alchemist, "You're gonna be able to get Al's body back, right?"

"Of course", answered Ed without hesitation as he looked over his work, "I said I would so I will." Thorn looked at the scene when her captor said that and stopped her knife by the handle.

'But will you be able to pay the toll when you get to the gate', thought the veteran grimly, her eyes landed to the table then to the mail and a package with her name on it. Once Ed was sitting next to her, she opened it.

"What are you doing? That's my mail", scolded Fullmetal, he was about to take it until she showed him the name on top of the address and he backed off leaving that question for a later with a sigh. "Anyway, listen Al…" he started. "I dug up the thing we that day, to confirm something." Winry gasped at the statement turning her full attention at her childhood friend.

"What was the result", Alphonse asked anxious to be told the answer to his and his brother's actions.

"I came to the conclusion that it wasn't Mom", Ed answered looking him straight in the eyes. His brother froze when the information finally sunk in to his brain.

"But… then… wait", he stuttered while finally forming words, "You did that alone."

"No I helped", threw in Thorn, reading a paper that was in the package while she threw her hand in the air halfheartedly not really indulging in the conversation.

"I'll hear the complaints later", said Ed tempted to punch the veteran in the arm if she was rude to his brother again then turned to his brother again. "I confirmed that I can get your body back", stated Ed finally catching the half Ishvalan's attention.

"Really", asked all three sounding surprised.

"I have a question for the two of you", stated Edward starting to sweat and become slightly nervous while Thorn grew an amused smirk on her face. "You know… that time… when we fought… about which one… of us would marry… Winry? You remember?"

"Yeah, didn't we talk about it a few days ago on the roof", recalled the suit of armor.

"Oh yeah! We were like five back then", said Winry tapping her finger to her chin as she remembered the childish memories.

"I heard you rejected us both", said Ed glaring at the girl smirking at the atheist about his rejection.

"Yeah I did", replied the blonde girl in the room.

"Why?"

"Well it's not surprising due to three little factors", stated Thorn, "not only are you short tempered but you're thickskulled and not to mention that you're a midget who can't even get to the bottom shelf." That's when Edward finally snapped.

"You're one to talk, YOU CROSSDRESSING MIDGET!"

"I'M NOT A CROSSDRESSER, I'M A MASTER OF DISGUISE AND I'M NOT SHORT MY GROWTH SPURT JUST HASN'T COME YET!" Thorn and Ed stood up to each other's noses as they glared into each other's eyes with pure anger. Neither of them noticed how close their faces were to each other. She groaned, out of being out starred down by the taller short person, and ran out the room with her package, not being stopped by golden-eyed blonde.

"She's right in a since though", said the mechanic after a short time.

Ed looked at them both as they looked at each other then said at the same time quoting what was said those years ago, "I don't date guys who are shorter than me."

With Thorn

She looked at the Fuhrer's gift for the murders in the war and the name in the renaming certificate, 'The Ishvalan Blood Alchemist, huh?' It seemed fitting in a sick way, her blood was half of Ishval and the rest was on her hand for the rest of her days. She walked down the sidewalk after hearing Ed shout something about not judging men by their height as she shook her head and headed to the Maes' house (at least that was the last one she remembered).

"I did promise you Maes", she muttered to herself. After walking for a while she finally arrived to find little Elicia and Mrs. Hughes walking towards Thorn, "Hello Mrs. Hughes, hey Elicia." They looked at her curiously before they recognized her from years of memory.

"Well if it isn't Ms. Mu…"

"Jada", the younger girl corrected not wanting to hear her old name. "I changed it to Jada."

"Oh", said the older woman while her daughter rushed to the bastard to be given a big hug, "So what brings you here?"

'A blonde haired golden eyed shrimpy little bastard', she thought but knew better than to say that around the Hughes family. "I was in the neighborhood and I promised Maes that if I was ever within a 30 mile radius, that I should come and visit." Thorn noticed that Elicia and Mrs. Hughes' expressions fell.

"We were going to go visit him after dinner", the mother said motioning the newly appointed State Alchemist to follow her. "You can come with us if you'd like." Thorn nodded as she put the young child on her shoulders pretending to be an airplane. The cooking was just as great as she remembered from the meatloaf to the quiche to the dessert at the end. Soon it was time to go and the question was still buzzing through her mind.

"You said we were going to visit Maes", stated Thorn hoping everything was all right, "What happened to him?" They hadn't arrived to their destination yet according to the married woman but she never said what had happened to the family obsessed man. It had been a little while since the question was asked but it became clear when they had came to the gate of the cemetery. Thorn took her shades off out of respect and followed the family to a stone with her mentor on it.

"According to the officers, the killer was killed by Colonel Mustang and burned beyond recognition", whispered the widow so her daughter won't hear the truth. "If you can come live with us, then you can."

"I'll be fine thank you. Do you know where Roy is", asked the orphan, after making gestures of religious prayer to the grave.

"Last I heard he was in the hospital after handling a homicidal criminal of some kind." The night haired girl nodded, hugged the toddler and thanked the kind widow one last time before leaving for a shop she knew to do something that her old mentor always say not to do.

"Why if it isn't little miss Thorny", said the artist with the needle machine in his hand. "Finally came for that art." Thorn only smiled to herself and nodded.


	11. So we meet again

**_So we meet again_**

Ed hadn't worried about Thorn knowing she could take care of herself, at least that was what he first thought when the night was still young, but when she wasn't in the apartment the next morning his fear began to set in. The young blond masked it however, continuing with the plan made overnight. Showing the crowds his alchemy, shouting how great he was the Fullmetal Alchemist and bragged at how he was so unafraid of the great assassin Scar. It had been two days of that and still no sign of Thorn anywhere. Was she back at Sin's Playground? Shouldn't she have called him to let him know? Maybe she had been killed or kidnapped? He often shook his head of those ideas reminding him that she had been in the war and wasn't a force to be recon

Soon he took a break from the show and enjoyed his drink, before he sneezed and smirked, "It seems like the whole street's talking about me!"

"Indeed", agreed his younger brother, "if we create a lot of attention…"

"So you want all the attention. That explains why you're being some icon of comedy", said a female voice from behind them. They turned around to see the half Ishvalan still wearing her sunglasses, which hid her scarlet irises from public viewing. Ed noticed a bulged on her shoulder under the fabric of her trench coat but decided against pointing it out, so he only glared at the girl in front of them. He failed to notice the new belt she had acquired that had the symbol of a State Alchemist.

"Thorn, you're okay", Alphonse pointed out sounding happy to see her with an expressionless metal face. Thorn nodded in response with a smile at the younger alchemist and sat down with her fellow teenagers, "Where have been? Brother has been worried sick."

"Shut up Al!"

Thorn put on a pained smile on her lips looking at the older brother's cup then taking it, "I visited an old friend at the cemetery and another one at the hospital." Thorn took a sip of the liquid despite her 'host's protests. Suddenly a car pulled up next to them, the two brothers look at it with widened eyes while a tan hand reached for her piece as it stopped. The window slid down to reveal Col. Mustang in the back with 1st Lt. Hawkeye taking the wheel.

"Quit messing around, Fullmetal", ordered Mustang keeping his eyes forward. Alphonse's glowing eyes widened while Thorn and Ed joined in a glare towards the raven-haired adult, the black haired female was fighting the urge to shot him right then and there. The three teens stood up and went to the window.

"I heard everything about 2nd Lt. Ross, you shitty Colonel", stated Edward in a harsh whisper.

"That's good", said the Colonel keeping is bearing intact, his eyes closed and his face blank.

"I saw Havok at the hospital last night, that's pretty rough", added Thorn only getting a scrunch of his eyebrows as a response. Ed felt the tension between the two but choose not to get involved with that dispute as he kept his gaze to the Colonel in front at him inside the vehicle.

"Speaking of which, if only Dr. Marco was here, he could heal…" Ed was interrupted by Mustang's gloved hand in mid-sentence.

"Wait", the raven-haired male said, "get in the car. Let's exchange information." The three teens looked at each other and then at the car, once they got in the car everyone was squished. Riza pushed her fellow blonde towards the veteran making his face land in between her breasts, which also made her blush while Roy was squished by the enormous, metal being in the back, "or we could do it outside." Thorn nodded in agreement trying to hide her blush from sight as they all got out of the car which was now in a secluded ally with no prying eyes would see the transaction.

"The whereabouts of Dr. Marco and the Philosopher's Stone are unknown", exclaimed the young alchemist looking at the files as Alphonse looked over his older brother's should while the half-Ishvalan glared at the older male in uniform, still itching to shoot her gun at him. Just once, just once would be enough.

"It's possible that they got to them before we could", said Mustang before he looked to the dark haired Ishvallan who looked in the short blonde.

"But why? Damnit!" Ed cursed while he stood there calculating the evidence in his head. "When Dr. Macro was in the military, he did some research about making the Philosopher's stone. He said it had been used in Ishval."

That much was true and a fact that she knew all too well, "Hm."

"The Philosopher's stone… Homunculi… the military secret squad… Ishval…"

"What connection could they all have? Assuming there is one to begin with", she adds still feeling the man's stare at the side of her head.

"What happened in Ishval?" exclaimed Ed becoming frustrated.

Mustang looked at the ground almost mournfully thinking of the memories of war, "Speaking of Ishval, Scar's here." Thorn remained silent not knowing at all what they were talking about, the Colonel turned his head to the blonde, "Fullmetal, you've been drawing unnecessary attention to yourself these past few days. Do you want him to kill you?"

"I'm waiting for him", Edward countered showing no fear in his golden eyes, "I need a rematch against him."

"Don't be foolish", said the older man arguing with the short teenager who was surprisingly taller than the girl he had fought along side with during the war. He had thought that at the very least she would have gotten a little more height than the shrimp. "Have you forgotten about East City?"

"I thought you said you were taking me to Central", said Thorn, who was completely ignored between the two due to their macho contest. "…and furthermore who is Scar?" Riza moved her brown eyes and she cocked her gun silencing the two males as though telling them to be silent. A hooded figure whose hood did less than nothing to hide his X shaped scar on his head.

"He's here", said Ed sounding panicked.

"You got him where you want him… Isn't that right Fullmetal?"

"What's that? You're sweating", retorted the blonde alchemist sweating himself a pool under his feet as both the Ishvalan Blood Alchemist and the 1st Lieutenant had both of their guns at the ready. "Wait! Wait a minute, you guys! Don't attack him!"

"What?" 1st Lieutenant Riza exclaimed but Thorn had already shot her first shot, which missed hitting a glass bottle instead.

"I've learned how to fish him out, from the Colonel", he explained ready to attack and taking the gun away from Thorn and throwing it elsewhere. The half Ishvallan looked at her fellow State Alchemist with anger and confusion until the ground shattered beneath them by a force of alchemy. To move away Ed grabbed her by her waist and jumping to the car hood as crumbles of stone flew in the air like shooting stars in the night.

Thorn looked in shock at the sudden surprise then up at the male that had his arm around her waist. His golden locks shimmered in the sunlight; his eyes sparkled with determination that rivaled anything she ever saw in anyone. His voice whispered to her tan ear, "Follow our lead, this what's happening…"

Alphonse had both of the military ranking officers in his arms and explained while the other two presences were talking as well, "Sorry, Colonel."

"Fish him out", said Roy in a question confused about the whole situation.

"Brother is using himself as bait to lure out the homunculi", responded the soul bound uniform. "Because the homunculi need him alive."

"What kind of idio-", said Thorn to the blond male still holding onto her as though she would fall and break if he let go of his grip.

"We don't want any sacrifices", replied Ed looking her in the eyes, a clash of liquid gold and crimson blood. "A long time ago we made up our minds to move forward! Even if we have to be bait." She thought for a second before speaking her mind.

"If this guy has his attention on State Alchemists then he'll have to go through the two of us," responded The Ishvalan Blood Alchemist.

"The odds for this gamble are very low," said Mustang starting to understand the situation better. "What if the soldiers take down Scar before the homunculi arrive? What happens then?"

You could almost hear the smirk in Alphonse's voice as he spoke, "That… That part, Colonel, you can take care of that part perfectly can't you?"

Roy smirked at what the suit of armor was implying, "So you're using me? You have a lot of guts!" The three younger alchemists jumped forward into battle as the Colonel spoke, "If you manage to catch a homunculus, leave some for me."

"Understood," shouted the three in unison rushing towards the assassin.

"And Fullmetal", the alchemist turned around to the military dog, "If she gets hurt, I'm holding you responsible." There was an odd aura that had formed around his superior it was frightening and protective. Seriously was this girl to the Colonel? They clapped their hands together and slammed the ground making it attack Scar. Meanwhile, while Roy and Riza 'confiscated' a car from a couple on the street, two beings stood upon a tall building looking down at the world waiting like vultures.

"It's starting, it's starting," said the longhaired prince with his black clad bodyguard standing beside him just a few yards away. "Anytime now." While the battle between the four alchemists continued still in the burning flames of fight as they danced their deadly step. Scar had gotten close to the teenagers many times but they managed to avoid the powerful hands of the Ishvalan 'messiah'. The two brothers use their alchemy as the half-Arteminian used her knives proving futile in the first place.

"You three move away from him now," ordered soldiers from the opening of the alleyway.

Alphonse stood in front of the men's line of sight and shouted, "Don't shoot you might hit my brother!"

"That's why I'm telling you to move away!"

Thorn tried to get a punch in however she was always blocked by the more experienced alchemist. 'Damn it, if I lose to scar now everything will be in vain…' He spared a glance at Thorn, 'I can't let either of us get too close to him but I can't get to far away either. Otherwise he might leave the battle.' Suddenly a sand colored sleeve right next to his face blocked Edward's line of vision to Thorn. He ran away dragging Thorn with him to get away from Scar, 'THIS IS TIRING! HURRY UP AND FIND THOSE HOMUNCULI, LING!'

Suddenly the two Xingenese teens felt the presence of the objective was felt in the area and jumped into action, "They're here." The battle was hot and heavy as the three still stood their ground until one of the attacks caused blood to spill off the blonde's head.

"Damn it," cursed Edward feeling the pain coming from his nerve endings. 'He is... He's the one that destroys bodies and metal.'

Everything seemed to maneuver in a speed as slow as molasses. Alphonse called out to his older brother not wanting to lose the only family he had left. Thorn ran towards the two with cracked sunglasses that messed up her red irises from seeing clearly as her voice screamed out for her fellow State Alchemist. She prayed to her god that he would be fine and be able to fight their opponent.

Suddenly Edward slapped his hands together and met the murderer's hand with explosive results. Both the older ishvalan and the teenage State Alchemist flew back from the force, while the percussion also threw Thorn against the wall making her shattered glasses fall to the floor. "Heh," said Ed smirking at his opponent, his sleeve shredded to reveal his automail arm, "Super lucky."

"Countered," shouted Al to his older brother, "Don't mess around." Thorn looked up at the tattoo's on the enemy's right arm and widened at them in memory of last seeing those markings. Edward seemed to notice the black ink as well, same with the armor bound soul. "The right arm's tattoos!"

'Could it be that he's Winry's,' he wasn't able to finish his thought when Scar attempted to attack again only to get a strong blow of wind before the attack. Edward looked at the source of the blast, which was Thorn as she looked as surprised as him but recovered quickly. Her hands slapped together creating water to shoot out at the nimble opponent. "Well looks like you can transmute without a circle but how did you get water out of thin air?"

"Do you really think that now is the best time to ask for transmutation tips?"


End file.
